The extraordinary story emerged after a passenger posted a video on YouTube showing a group of cheery travellers pushing the Tupolev plane on the snow-covered runway in Igarka, which is beyond the Arctic Circle.
"Let's go," passengers in thick winter coats shout and whoop as they put their hands on the wings of the plane and shove it several metres along the runway.
"Everyone wants to go home," one man says.
Transport prosecutors in western Siberia said they were investigating the incident, which took place yesterday.
Also Read
"The passengers on board got out of the plane and started pushing it onto the taxiway."
Even for Russians inured to long winters of sub-zero temperatures, the passengers' can-do chutzpah has drawn awed admiration.
"Siberians are so tough that for them pushing a frozen plane along a runway is a piece of cake," said Komsomolskaya Pravda daily.
Social media too was abuzz with praise for the passengers.
The technical director of Krasnoyarsk-based Katekavia, Vladimir Artemenko, acknowledged the incident took place to Rossiyskaya Gazeta daily.
"That morning it was minus 52 (minus 61 Fahrenheit). The plane had stood on the runway for 24 hours and the pilots forgot to take off the parking brake. That caused the brake pads to freeze up," he said.
Passengers pushed the plane until it was able to turn and then the tow truck took over, he said. The flight then took off and went smoothly.