TUI flight to Manchester Airport forced to make emergency landing in France

A TUI flight from Tunisia to Manchester was forced to make an emergency landing in the south of France overnight. Flight TOM529 was due to leave Enfidha-Hamamet Airport at 8.15pm local time on Friday night (February 7).

It was scheduled to land at Manchester Airport by 10.40pm. But having already been delayed, the flight made an unscheduled stop at Nice Côte d'Azur Airport.

It's believed the landing was due to a medical emergency on board the flight, with a passenger taken away by ambulance after the flight landed in Nice. Online flight tracker Flight Aware shows the plane eventually took off from Nice just after 12.30am this morning, before landing in Manchester at around 1.15am.

Phil Rawnsley, a passenger on the flight, told the Manchester Evening News: "We were due to leave Enfidha at 8.15pm but didn't take off until about 11pm. About an hour into the flight, just as the drinks trolley was coming round, a call went out 'is there a doctor or nurse on the plane?'.

"Paramedics and police boarded the plane in Nice. Once they had taken the passenger off the plane we had to refuel and then continue our journey." TUI has been approached for further details.