There is a grave problem in finding a flight to transport the 170 tourists headed back to Helsinki, who were stranded in Bulgaria's Burgas Airport after their airline cancelled the flight, according to Bulgarian Minister of Transport Ivailo Moskovski.

Some 500 more Russian tourists suffered a similar fate when their flights were cancelled, but Moskovski has stated that Russian tour agencies have now started attempts to just buy their clients new flights so they might return home.

A plane has already been secured which will deliver 186 passengers to Moscow, having taken off from the Bulgarian Black Sea coast Saturday after 6 pm local time.

Nevertheless, no solution has been found for the plight of the Scandinavians yet, as no flights are available and Bulgaria Air has retracted all other crew from the airport.

The Russian Federal Tourism Agency has issued a statement, saying that it will ensure that all Russians stranded in Bulgaria will return safely home Saturday or Sunday.

A representative of the Russian Tourism Agency is in Burgas to help in the negotiations, as are Minister Moskovski and vice-minister in charge of tourism Ivo Marinov.

The scandal broke out after national carrier Bulgaria Air cancelled 3 flights to Russia and one to Finland over concerns that tour agency Alma Tour that booked them owed the airline some EUR 3.5 M.

Negotiations between the two companies carried over Saturday have reached no palpable results.