A Qantas flight made an unscheduled stop in Istanbul due to a medical emergency.

Qantas passengers were stranded for hours on a Turkish runway after a flight on the airline’s flagship Sydney to London route was grounded due to a medical emergency.

The QF2 flight, which had departed from London earlier on Tuesday, was diverted to Istanbul instead of its planned stopover in Singapore.

Text messages sent to those on board explained that the unexpected stop was necessary “to provide essential care to a passenger who became unwell during the flight.”