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Emirates airline’s Dubai flight to Brussels, Belgium was diverted to Iraq on Tuesday due to an emergency, the carrier confirmed.
Flight EK181, which took off at Dubai International Airport (DXB) at past 2pm, made a detour to Erbil International Airport after one of the passengers required medical assistance.
The airline did not specify the nature of the medical emergency.
In a statement on Wednesday, Emirates said the flight has already continued its journey to Brussels after a stopover in Erbil.
“The passenger was met by local medical staff upon arrival. The aircraft refueled and continued its journey to Brussels. Emirates apologises for the inconvenience caused," a spokesperson said.
According to real-time flight tracker Flightradar 24, the diverted flight took off from the airport in Iraq after less than two hours on the ground.
Last January 27, an Emirates flight from Dubai to Auckland, New Zealand was forced to return to DXB after flying for nearly seven hours. The airline could not land at Auckland airport because it was closed due to bad weather.
(Writing by Cleofe Maceda; editing by Daniel Luiz)
