A plane heading to the Turkish Riviera had to turn back to Manchester Airport. SunExpress flight XQ593 bound for Antalya took off from Manchester at 1.33pm BST on Monday but returned shortly after departure due to a reported medical emergency on board. The Boeing 737-800 aircraft leveled off at 18,000 feet, with the crew signaling a general emergency using Squawk 7700 and informing air traffic control of the situation. According to reports, a passenger needed urgent medical assistance.
The plane briefly circled in a holding pattern to prepare for a heavy landing before being granted immediate landing permission. Medical personnel boarded the aircraft upon arrival and attended to the affected passenger.
The flight resumed at 4.36pm BST and completed its journey to Antalya, landing safely at 10.35pm TRT (8.35pm BST) as per flight-tracking data. SunExpress, founded in 1989 as a partnership between Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines, is a Turkish-German airline headquartered in Antalya.