Blizzard Strands 1,000 Passengers in Russia's Sakhalin Airport

Jan. 7, 2015

An airport on Russia's far eastern island of Sakhalin will be closed until Thursday morning due to the harsh winter weather.

More than 1,000 passengers have been stranded in an airport on Russia's far eastern island of Sakhalin after a severe blizzard forced the airport to close down on Tuesday.

Information posted Wednesday on the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk Airport's website said 1,100 passengers were still awaiting departure while another 660 people waited to arrive. Two incoming flights were redirected to airports in Khabarovsk and Vladivostok.

The airport will be closed until Thursday morning due to the harsh winter weather, which has made it impossible to clear the runway, the statement said.

Photos posted to the airport's website show a terminal fully enveloped by the blizzard, with vehicles barely visible against the onslaught of snow.

The snowstorm also caused power outages in several villages across the region on Wednesday, according to a statement on the website of the Emergency Situation Ministry's regional branch.

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