About 170 Russian tourists were unable to leave the beach resort of Rimini in Italy since August 19 because of technical problems with an Airbus owned by S7, formerly Sibir Airline.
"We decided to block off the departure gate, and the police started pushing us back. There was a great deal of pushing and shoving, and that's when we got everyone's attention," said Viktor Zinchuk, a famous Russian guitarist.
He said the passengers were given no food at first, but that after the flight was delayed six to eight hours, they were finally fed. After that, he said, they were given food twice a day, adding that the airline shifted the blame onto tour operators, who could not be reached by phone.
"Tensions rose, women became hysterical, and we announced a hunger strike," Zinchuk said. He said that when the situation began to deteriorate, an airline representative found 50 places in a hotel to accommodate some of the people, and that boarding was announced an hour and a half later.
A Tu-154 flight returned the group to Moscow early Monday morning.
S7 said earlier that the tourists were provided food four times a day, and that the Russian Embassy had insisted they be accommodated.
Russia's second largest carrier after Aeroflot, S7 has faced a number of difficulties this year, the most severe being the tragedy in Siberia's city of Irkutsk, where an Airbus 310 crashed on landing July 9, killing at least 124 and injuring 70 of the 203 people on board.
