Hundreds of Russian tourists were stranded in Turkey when their planes broke down, a likely casualty of Western sanctions

• Two flights operated by Russian airline Red Wings were unable to depart from Antalya, Turkey.
• The Boeing 777s had technical issues, leaving hundreds of Russian tourists stranded.

Hundreds of Russian tourists were left stranded in Turkey after two Boeing 777s broke down due to technical problems likely resulting from Western sanctions, according to multiple reports.

The flights both belonged to Russian low-cost carrier Red Wings Airlines and were due to fly from Antalya Airport in Turkey over the weekend, The Moscow Times reported.

The first Boeing 777, which was traveling to the city of Yekaterinburg on Saturday, was rescheduled several times without explanation, passengers told the local news outlet E1.ru., and was eventually delayed for 48 hours.

The Prosecutor General's Office in the Russian Urals Federal District, where Yekaterinburg is located, confirmed that the delays left 410 people stranded in Turkey for at least two days.

It is unclear what exactly the technical problems were with the plane, but a source in the aviation industry told E1.ru. that Red Wings had taken on too many flights with just three Boeing 777s in its fleet.

The second Boeing 777, which was headed to Zhukovsky airport in the Moscow region on Saturday, experienced an issue with a damaged cooling system and was grounded for more than 11 hours.

As a result, three passengers fainted and an additional passenger experienced a panic attack, according to the Telegram messaging app, Mash. It is unclear how many people were on the flight.

"Two Boeing 777 aircraft out of the three available in the airline's fleet were simultaneously out of service due to technical reasons," Red Wings said in a statement, according to The Moscow Times.

The company did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine more than 17 months ago, the West imposed heavy sanctions against Russia that severely impacted its aviation industry.

This included closing allied airspace and preventing plane makers, like Boeing and Airbus, from servicing or sending spare parts to Russia.

As a result, the Kremlin announced earlier this year that it would legalize "cannibalization," which means Russian engineers can strip serviceable parts from one plane to keep others flying — though this often takes a long time.

The lack of aircraft maintenance has already led to several close calls in the industry.

One Aeroflot flight in January had to make an emergency landing due to a faulty toilet system, while another was forced to land one month later due to an air conditioning malfunction, according to a report by the independent Russian news outlet Arbat.

In May, Russia's biggest commercial airline Aeroflot asked its employees to refrain from reporting malfunctions even if they are aware of them, according to the investigative Russian outlet Proekt.

A former Aeroflot employee told the outlet that the main reason behind the directive is "to prevent aircraft from being grounded due to a malfunction that, on paper, should prevent the aircraft from being operated until it is fixed."