An El Al plane that took off from Warsaw on Sunday made an emergency landing at Antalya airport in Turkey following a medical incident involving a passenger, Israeli media reported Sunday.
Israeli media noted that passengers were told to expect a delay of several hours on the ground in Turkey, with no permission to exit the plane. Since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war, all direct flights from Israel to Turkey have been canceled.
The plane also needed refuelling, and one of the workers at the airport refused to refuel the plane, causing a delay in the plane’s take-off, according to Israeli media.
Maariv quoted El Al’s response to the incident, stating, “El Al flight LY5102 from Warsaw to Tel Aviv made a landing at the airport in Antalya following a medical incident of one of the passengers. After consulting with the doctor who treated the passenger on the plane, it was decided that it should land urgently in order to evacuate the passenger to the hospital as soon as possible.”
Delays attributed to Turkish permits
KAN reported that the plane had initially received permission to refuel at the Antalya airport, but Turkish political parties delayed this decision on grounds that permits were required to refuel.
אל על מאשרת: עובדים מקומיים סירבו לתדלק את מטוס החברה שנחת באנטליה שבטורקיה לאחר שאחת הנוסעות עברה אירוע רפואי; המטוס המריא כעת לרודוס, שם יבוצע תדלוק נוסף לפני ההמראה לישראל@einavkerner https://t.co/M5CIVPsnSM pic.twitter.com/QtheoQBTOZ
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Army Radio noted that local workers refused to refuel the El Al plane, and that the plane has now taken off to Rhodes, Greece, where it will be refuelled before returning to Israel.
This is a developing story.
