KARACHI/NEW DELHI: A Jeddah-bound IndiGo plane was diverted to the Karachi airport on Saturday due to a medical emergency on board and later flew back to Delhi.
Sources in the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) in Pakistan said the aircraft was in the Pakistani airspace when a male passenger fell seriously ill, following which the plane made an emergency landing at the Jinnah International Airport in Karachi.
"There was a medical emergency on board IndiGo flight 6E 63, operating from Delhi to Jeddah," the airline said in a statement.
IndiGo said the captain diverted the flight to Karachi, where a doctor attended to the passenger upon arrival.
"After completing the necessary formalities, the flight departed Karachi and returned to its origin to provide further assistance to the medical passenger," the airline said, adding, after the passenger was deboarded in Delhi, the flight departed for Jeddah.
According to Geo News, the passenger was a 55-year-old Indian man.
Sources in the CAA said the flight's pilot contacted the air traffic control at the Karachi airport after the passenger did not get better even after he was given oxygen.
The air traffic control allowed the aircraft to land in Karachi on humanitarian grounds.