A plane from Russia made an emergency landing. Tourists waited in Katowice under surveillance.

Tourists flying from Russia to Tunisia landed unexpectedly at Katowice Airport. The incident occurred on Wednesday, the same night that Polish airspace was violated by Russian drones. Passengers waited eight hours, accompanied by security personnel, for their next flight home. "The incident occurred around 3:15 a.m. It was a charter flight, and the reason for the landing was cabin depressurization," airport spokesman Piotr Adamczyk confirmed to Interia.

The plane from St. Petersburg landed in Katowice

Passengers of the Tunisian charter airline Nouvelair, who flew from St. Petersburg to Monastir on Tuesday evening, were stranded at Katowice Airport several hours later. The plane made an emergency landing around 3:15 a.m. – as an airport spokesperson confirmed to Interia, this was due to cabin depressurization. A further loss of pressure at high altitude would have led to oxygen deficiency and the need for oxygen masks.

The plane was diverted to Pyrzowice, where the Russians were provided with a designated space in the transit hall. "Under the supervision of the authorities, including the Border Guard, they waited for a replacement plane," according to spokesman Piotr Adamczyk. Their stay in Katowice extended to eight hours – the travelers did not depart for Monastir, Tunisia, until around 11:50.

This is not the first emergency landing of a Russian plane.

Although Polish airspace remains closed to flights from Belarus and Russia, the Nouvelair landing is not unprecedented. Earlier this year, a flight bound for Königsberg was forced to make an emergency landing at Poznań Airport. At that time, the AlMasria Universal Airlines flight, with 216 passengers on board, was returning from Sharm el-Sheikh and was unable to land in Russia due to heavy snowfall.

Read also: Russian drones fell on Poland. Ryanair CEO on the problem that will last for years. Read also: A flight from Gdańsk had to be rerouted due to an emergency. Incidents like this are on the rise.