The government plane was carrying the German leader as well as diplomats, officials and a pool of journalists to the meeting of world leaders in Buenos Aires. Just an hour after taking off from Berlin, the ‘Konrad Adenauer’ Airbus turned around and headed back towards Cologne. The captain told passengers he was swapping planes due to technical problems.
It is not clear when a different aircraft will be ready to shuttle the German leader to the G20 summit which starts tomorrow.
This year’s meeting comes as tensions between Russia and neighbouring Ukraine continue to mount after Russian forces opened fire on Ukrainian naval boats on Saturday.
Ms Merkel had said she plans to confront Vladimir Putin over the clash off the coast of Crimea, which she blamed squarely on Russia.
But while the German Chancellor has blamed Moscow for the Sea of Azov crisis, she stopped short of a plea by Ukranian president Petro Poroshenko for Nato help.
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Speaking today, she said: “We ask the Ukrainian side too to be sensible because we know that we can only solve things through being reasonable and through dialogue.”
Both Ukraine and Russia have offered conflicting accounts of Saturday’s clash which wounded at least three Ukrainian sailors.
Kiev has accused Moscow of blockading the Sea of Azov, which is shared by the two countries, to cut off the Ukranian ports cities of Mariupol and Berdyansk.
But Russia claims it is just protecting a newly constructed bridge which spans the Kerch Strait and links Russia to the Ukranian region of Crimea, which was annexed by Vladimir Putin in 2014.
Moscow denies claims of blockading and Mr Putin this week accused Ukrainian leader Petro Poroshenko of engineering the clash to help his poll numbers ahead of an election next year.
The 24 Ukrainian sailors are currently being detained in Crimea and their ships impounded by Russian forces.
Speaking with German newspaper Bild, Mr Poroshenko called on Nato for naval support to counter Russia’s “aggressive policy”.
The Ukrainian leader warned Mr Putin could seize more of his country unless measures were taken to prevent Russian expansion.
Nato has previously pledged its “full support” for Ukraine but has yet to respond to Mr Poroshenko’s plea for help.