Passengers onboard a London to Singapore Qantas flight spent the night in Azerbaijan after a mid-air medical emergency forced the aircraft to divert.
Flight QF2 from Heathrow to Singapore Changi airport made an unscheduled stop in Azerbaijan's capital Baku, on Monday (9 June) for a female passenger to receive medical attention.
Hamish Urquhart, an Australian doctor onboard, told ABC News that a woman in her 60s experienced a “major cardiac event” during the flight.
He said: “The lady was really quite unwell and needed intravenous access while we were trying to land, which was a bit challenging.”
According to the Australian doctor, the pilot performed a “dramatic 180-degree-turn” to safely land at the airport in Baku.
Dr Urquhart and two other medical professionals onboard helped to stabilise the woman.
On landing in Baku – the closest airport with a runway to accommodate an A380 aircraft – the woman was transported to a nearby hospital.
The Airbus A380 was eight hours into the over 13-hour journey when it diverted to Heydar Aliyev International airport, landing at around 7.56am local time.
An A380 engineer was flown out from London to carry out routine maintenance checks on the aircraft, which had been due to take place in Singapore.
Other passengers told ABC that it took more than three hours to wait for their online visas to come through.
According to the airline, all customers were given overnight accommodation after the diversion “caused the operating crew to reach their duty limits”.
A Qantas spokesperson said: “Our QF2 London to Singapore service diverted to Baku in Azerbaijan yesterday due to a medical incident onboard.
“We apologise to customers for the disruption and are working to get them on their way to Singapore as soon as possible.”
Passengers, mostly Australian, are due to continue the journey to Sydney via Singapore later today following the unexpected overnight stop.
The airline added: “Safety is our number one priority and we are focused on getting our customers on their way as soon possible.”
Simon Calder, travel correspondent of The Independent, said: “Pilots will always do what is best for the unwell passenger, but the consequences of a medical diversion can be extreme – in terms of disruption and expense.
“One factor with the latest Qantas diversion is the size of the plane – with close to 500 fellow passengers on an Airbus A380, there is a higher chance someone will be taken ill than on a smaller aircraft.”
For more travel news and advice listen to Simon Calder’s podcast.
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