Kenya Airway flight makes emergency landing after passenger falls ill

A Kenya Airways (KQ) flight en route London, United Kingdom from Nairobi declared a medical emergency after a passenger took ill, the national airline said.

KQ said in a statement that the flight was allowed to get expedited landing rights at London’s Heathrow Airport for the passenger to get speedy medical attention.

“Kenya Airways PLC (KQ) confirms that on Monday, 9th October 2023, at around 14:19hrs KQ100 operating from Nairobi to London Heathrow, declared a medical emergency after a passenger was taken ill,” said KQ.

“The crew on board assisted by two medical doctors and a nurse provided medical assistance to the passenger as the Captain declared a medical emergency with Air Traffic Control (ATC) so that the flight could get an expedited landing for the passenger to receive further medical attention.”

KQ said the aircraft landed safely at “14:47hrs and paramedics who were already on ground to receive the aircraft immediately took the passenger to hospital for further medical attention.”

Ifeoma Okeke-Korieocha

Ifeoma Okeke-Korieocha is the Aviation Correspondent at BusinessDay Media Limited, publishers of BusinessDay Newspapers. She is also the Deputy Editor, BusinessDay Weekender Magazine, the Saturday Weekend edition of BusinessDay. She holds a BSC in Mass Communication from the prestigious University of Nigeria, Nsukka and a Masters degree in Marketing at the University of Lagos. As the lead writer on the aviation desk, Ifeoma is responsible and in charge of the three weekly aviation and travel pages in BusinessDay and BDSunday. She also overseas and edits all pages of BusinessDay Saturday Weekender. She has written various investigative, features and news stories in aviation and business related issues and has been severally nominated for award in the category of Aviation Writer of the Year by the Nigeria Media Nite-Out awards; one of the Nigeria’s most prestigious media awards ceremonies. Ifeoma is a one-time winner of the prestigious Nigeria Media Merit Award under the 'Aviation Writer of the Year' Category. She is the 2025 Eloy Award winner under the Print Media Journalist category. She has undergone several journalism trainings by various prestigious organisations. Ifeoma is also a fellow of the Female Reporters Leadership Fellowship of the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism.