A flight from Heathrow was forced into an emergency landing and stranded at a remote airfield after a “severe medical’ situation involving a passenger.
The Virgin Atlantic plane left London at 11.40am on Wednesday and was due to land in Mumbai, India on Thursday at 1.40am local time.
But the Airbus A350 was diverted to an “abandoned” military base in Turkey at around 4.30pm local time and suffered a “technical issue” on touchdown.
Flight VS358 landed at Diyarbakır Airport was because a woman needed medical help at 30,000ft.
The flight’s 200 passengers were asked to disembark the jet, but were not allowed back on to fetch their bags.
A ‘visa issue’ also meant the weary travellers were not even allowed to leave the hanger for nearby shops or hotels.
The desperate passengers, which included babies and pregnant women, criticised the airline for leaving them “with no food”.
Some reportedly became so desperate they sent out pleas for help “in what resembled a hostage video… like something from a Hollywood action movie.”
A pregnant woman said: “I have had no food. I am four months pregnant. They have supplied only rice. Everybody is suffering. Please help us.”
Another source added: “It was scary on-board. The poor woman was shouting and screaming and not in a good way, and families around her were very distressed by what was happening.”
“The situation became so scary for other passengers that the decision was taken by the captain to divert the aircraft, so the woman could receive medical help. It was not deemed safe to try continuing to India.
“The military airport in Turkey is not suitable for commercial aircraft take-offs and landings and it’s no surprise it suffered a technical issue during the emergency landing.
“Passengers have been stranded are getting frantic. They say there has been no help from Virgin customer services staff. They don’t know what’s happening and feel cut off from the world.”
Last night, diplomats were arranging temporary visas for passengers who were given accommodation ahead of a possible flight to Saudi Arabia today.
It was not known if and when the flight landed or will land on Indian soil.
A Virgin spokesman said: "The VS358 flight from London Heathrow to Mumbai on April 2 was cancelled due to an urgent medical diversion to Diyarbakır Airport in Turkey, followed by ongoing technical inspections of the aircraft.
"The safety and security of our customers and crew remains our highest priority, and we sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused.
“Our engineers are continuing their thorough assessments of the aircraft, and we are actively exploring all options including if required an alternative aircraft into a nearby airport.”
