About 1,000 residents of Russia's regions who sent their passports to Moscow embassies to obtain foreign visas have been left without their travel documents after a holdup at the cargo terminal of Sheremetyevo Airport, Russian media reported Thursday.
Russian Tourism Industry Union spokeswoman Irina Tyurina attributed the problem to a new cargo company taking over operations at the terminal from Aug. 29.
The passports were transferred to the airport from consulates located in Moscow, where the foreign visas had been issued, and were supposed to be shipped to Russian regions including Samara, Perm, Krasnodar and Rostov-on-Don on Aug. 28, but got delayed at Sheremetyevo, she told Interfax news agency.
Hundreds of people's travel plans have been put at risk as a result, Tyurina added.
The documents are now set to be shipped to the regions from Moscow's Domodedovo Airport, dozens of flights from which were delayed due to a fire on the airport's territory on Thursday morning, Interfax reported.
Tyurina was cited as saying by Russian media that passports were not the only cargo to have been held up. Also in limbo at the cargo terminal are live animals, as well as human bodies being transported for burial, she said.
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