Baerbock stranded in Abu Dhabi: plane woes

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock was stranded in Abu Dhabi on Monday after her official government airplane ran into technical problems.

The Airbus A340-300 taking Baerbock and her delegation to Australia made a stopover in Abu Dhabi to refuel, but experienced technical problems shortly after the take-off, officials have said.

“Due to a mechanical problem with the landing flaps, we had to interrupt our trip to Australia, and return to Abu Dhabi for safety reasons,” German Foreign Ministry spokesman Sebastian Fischer wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

Technicians traveling with the delegation were checking whether the defect could be repaired or whether a replacement aircraft would have to be flown from Germany.

Baerbock was scheduled to begin her Australia visit on Monday, as part of a week-long regional tour that includes New Zealand and Fiji.