IndiGo flight from Delhi to Doha diverted to Karachi after passenger falls ill and later dies

A Doha-bound flight that departed from Delhi in India had to make an emergency landing in Pakistan after a passenger fell sick onboard and eventually died.

The IndiGo flight 6E-1736 landed at the Jinnah International Airport in Karachi just past midnight after taking off on Sunday at 10pm local time.

According to civil aviation authorities, the captain requested for an emergency landing when the passenger fell ill onboard.

However, upon arrival, the passenger was declared dead by the airport’s medical team, the airline said.

The dead has been identified as a 60-year-old Nigerian national named Abdullah.

The plane departed for Delhi with the passenger’s body around 4am (local time) after Pakistani authorities handed a death certificate.

“We are deeply saddened by the news and our prayers and wishes are with his family and loved ones,” the budget airline said in a statement.

It added at the time that arrangements were being made for the transfer of the other passengers in coordination with the relevant authorities.

Earlier in February, an Air India flight from New York to Delhi was diverted to London due to a medical emergency onboard.

The passenger was rushed to a hospital and the aircraft later took off from London with the rest of the travellers.

IndiGo in July 2022 diverted a Sharjah-bound flight to Karachi due to a “technical glitch”.

It added that “necessary procedures were followed and as a precaution the aircraft was diverted to Karachi”. An additional flight was dispatched to Karachi to bring the passengers back to the south Indian city of Hyderabad.

Less than a fortnight prior to the incident, the SpiceJet airline said a Boeing 373 aircraft from Delhi to Dubai made an emergency landing in Karachi due to a fuel indicator light malfunctioning.