#WorldCup: Saudi Arabia players land safely at Rostov after plane caught fire in midair

The plane carrying the Saudi Arabian National team has landed safely despite a terrifying incident when it caught fire during their flight to Rostov-on-Don for the World Cup game against Uruguay on Wednesday.

The Saudi Arabian Football Federation posted a statement on Twitter saying it “would like to reassure everyone that all the Saudi national team players are safe, after a technical failure in one of the airplane engines that has just landed in Rostov-on-Don airport, and now they’re heading to their residence safely”.

The team posted photos of the players exiting the plane and smiling on Monday night but did not release further details of the engine problem, despite video taken from on board the plane showing flames coming from beneath one of the wings.

A statement from the airline, Rossiya, claimed that the preliminary cause of malfunction was a bird flying into the engine, but both were working on landing at Rostov-on-Don. The Saudis were beaten 5-0 by Russia in the World Cup opener in Moscow last week. They now take on Uruguay after the South Americans edged Egypt 1-0 in their first game.