In a weird incident, passengers due to board a flight in Siberia had to get off board and push the aircraft after its brake pads froze solid, it has been reported.

"While the aircraft was parked at Igarka airport, its landing gear froze on to the aerodrome surface. In order to quickly resolve this issue the passengers assisted the tow truck to move the aircraft."

That was the situation at Igarka Airport earlier this week where temperatures of minus 50 Celsius left a Tupolev Tu-134 aircraft stranded on the runway.

The plane was about to take off from the Russian town of Igarka, but was unable to move after the temperature fell to -52C, media reported. Passengers on board the flight, many of them shift workers, apparently offered to lend a hand, fearing that otherwise their journey home would be delayed. The Katekavia airline flight later took off and landed safely in the city of Krasnoyarsk.

"According to the initial reports, the air temperature dropped to -52C, and the braking system in the plane's landing gear froze in the parking position," Oxana Gorbunova, a senior aide at the Western Siberia state transport prosecutor's office, said. "The pushback tractor was unable to budge the aircraft onto the taxiway, and the passengers decided to help give it a push, which is not permitted, as this can damage the aircraft skin."

Yes, this really happened! A bunch of passengers left their seats to give their frozen plane a push at a snowbound airport in Siberia.

Prosecutors are now checking whether the airport, the airline, the crew or the passengers broke any air safety laws.

Igarka lies 100 miles (161km) north of the Arctic Circle, so chilly winter temperatures are not unusual. But -52C is significantly colder than normal; the average low temperature is closer to -30C. Igarka's airport is a regional airline hub used by 100,000 passengers a year, many of them working in Russia's Arctic oil and gas fields.