US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was struck in Davos after his plane developed a technical glitch due to an oxygen leak. Another aircraft is being dispatched to retrieve him , according to a member of his travelling pool.
However, another aircraft was being flown to Switzerland to pick him up. Now, he has left Davos after changing planes to return to Washington, CNN reported.
US foreign secretary had traveled to Davos for the annual World Economic Forum on Monday and was scheduled to fly back to Washington on Wednesday.
A Bloomberg report said the aircraft was a Boeing plane. After take off from Davos to Zurich on helicopters and boarding the modified Boeing Co. 737, Blinken and his team were informed that the aircraft had been deemed unsafe to take off. An oxygen leak detected previously could not be repaired.
While faults are not very uncommon on aircraft, however,the glitch develops at a tough time for Boeing. The company has had many of its 737 Max 9 aircraft grounded by regulators after an Alaska Airlines jet’s pannel blew out in mid-air on January 5, Bloomberg reported.
The jet being used by Blinken is an older variant of the 737, and is regarded as the C40 by the US Air Force.
Members of the press visiting with him and his aides were asked to do additional arrangements to go back to Washington commercially.
The Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum offers a platform for political leaders, policymakers, and industry experts to exchange ideas and thoughts on critical global issues.
Last September, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau found stranded in India after a G 20 summit in New Delhi when his jet developed a mechanical fault.
Germany’s fleet of outdated government jets has also developed a series of faults during long journeys, causing an accelerated retirement of planes like the Airbus A340 and the purchase of new generation A350s jets.
(With inputs from agencies)
