{"id":480355,"date":"2025-10-07T12:14:15","date_gmt":"2025-10-07T12:14:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/480355\/"},"modified":"2025-10-07T12:14:15","modified_gmt":"2025-10-07T12:14:15","slug":"panic-on-board-british-airways-flight-from-london-as-retired-military-chief-dies-triggering-emergency-landing-with-pregnant-passenger-also-suffering-a-medical-episode-during-chaos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/480355\/","title":{"rendered":"Panic on board British Airways flight from London as retired military chief dies triggering emergency landing with pregnant passenger also suffering a medical episode during chaos"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul class=\"mol-bullets-with-font\">\n<li class=\"\"><strong>Were YOU on board? Email Sabrina.Penty@dailymail.co.uk\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"author-section byline-plain\">By <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/profile-1526\/sabrina-penty.html\" class=\"author\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SABRINA PENTY, FOREIGN NEWS REPORTER<\/a> <\/p>\n<p class=\"byline-section\"> Published:  06:46 EDT, 7 October 2025   |  Updated:  07:08 EDT, 7 October 2025   <\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">A <a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/british_airways\/index.html\" id=\"mol-656707f0-a369-11f0-a81c-9f1c0c956094\" rel=\"noopener\">British Airways<\/a> flight from <a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/london\/index.html\" id=\"mol-656ed020-a369-11f0-a81c-9f1c0c956094\" rel=\"noopener\">London<\/a> to <a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/nigeria\/index.html\" id=\"mol-656f4550-a369-11f0-a81c-9f1c0c956094\" rel=\"noopener\">Nigeria<\/a> was forced to make an emergency landing after a retired military chief died mid-flight.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The plane, which had departed London <a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/heathrow-airport\/index.html\" id=\"mol-656e5af0-a369-11f0-a81c-9f1c0c956094\" rel=\"noopener\">Heathrow<\/a> Airport on Sunday night, was due to land at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja at around 5am on Monday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">But only two-and-a-half hours into the flight, the pilot was forced to divert the aircraft to Barcelona&#8217;s El Prat airport after a Nigerian passenger, said to be in his 80s, fell seriously ill.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">According to Nigerian media, the man &#8211; who was a retired air vice marshal &#8211; had been in the UK for c<a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/cancer\/index.html\" id=\"mol-b7a0d5f0-a369-11f0-a81c-9f1c0c956094\" class=\"\" rel=\"noopener\">ancer<\/a> treatment and was returning to his home country when he\u00a0died onboard the BA plane.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The emergency landing sparked chaos among passengers, reportedly leading to a pregnant woman suffering a medical episode.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">No further information was provided about the woman and her condition remains unclear.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The airline apologised to passengers for the disruption and a new flight was scheduled later in the day, having landed in the Nigerian capital at around 5.45pm.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">BA has been approached for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-e57ff93f2f87b965\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/102772345-15169699-image-a-25_1759833695012.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\" alt=\"A British Airways flight from London to Nigeria was forced to make an emergency landing after a retired military chief died mid-flight\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>   <\/p>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">A British Airways flight from London to Nigeria was forced to make an emergency landing after a retired military chief died mid-flight<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The terrifying mid-flight incident comes after a passenger on board an easyJet flight to holiday island Lanzarote died last month.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The tragedy unfolded as flight EJU6775, which had departed Nantes Loire Atlantique airport in France, began its descent on the Spanish island.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The airline told French outlet Le Parisien that its crew members did everything they could to save the passenger.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The captain triggered a distress signal before &#8216;performing a routine landing in accordance with standard procedures&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;Our crews are trained to respond to medical procedures and did everything possible during the flight&#8217;, the airline said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;Our thoughts are with the passenger&#8217;s family and friends and we extend our full support and assistance to them during this difficult time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;The well-being and safety of our passengers and crew is always easyJet&#8217;s top priority,&#8217; easyJet added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">French media reported that a significant delay was caused on the return flight due to the incident.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">A spokesperson for easyJet told DailyMail: &#8216;easyJet can confirm that flight EJU4775 from Nantes to Lanzarote on 16 September requested an expedited landing due to a passenger on board requiring urgent medical assistance.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;Our cabin crew provided first aid, and the flight was met by emergency services.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;Our thoughts are with the family and friends of the customer, and we are offering support and assistance at this difficult time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;The well-being of our passengers and crew is always easyJet&#8217;s highest priority.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>                    Share or comment on this article:<br \/>\n                        Panic on board British Airways flight from London as retired military chief dies triggering emergency landing with pregnant passenger also suffering a medical episode during chaos<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Were YOU on board? Email Sabrina.Penty@dailymail.co.uk\u00a0 By SABRINA PENTY, FOREIGN NEWS REPORTER Published: 06:46 EDT, 7 October 2025&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":480356,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[3087,92,1994,12,3007,26],"class_list":{"0":"post-480355","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-british-airways","9":"tag-dailymail","10":"tag-heathrow-airport","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-nigeria","13":"tag-world"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115332833134999754","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=480355"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480355\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/480356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=480355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=480355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=480355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}