Lady falls ill on board and dies on arrival after flight from Pakistan to Heathrow makes emergency landing

A British Airways plane was forced to make an emergency landing in Uzbekistan today after a female passenger became ill on board and died shortly after arrival in the capital, Tashkent.

Flight BA260 departed from Islamabad, Pakistan at 00:38 on Wednesday and was scheduled to fly into London Heathrow. But the Boeing 777 made its emergency landing two hours and 50 minutes into the flight, Uzbek media reported.

Other passengers were taken off the plane and were reported to be waiting at the terminal in the former Soviet state, which borders Afghanistan.

‘We’re very sorry, this flight scheduled from Islamabad to London has been diverted to Tashkent,’ a message carried by the BA flight tracker read.

The flight is due to continue onto London after formalities have been completed in Uzbekistan.

The identity or nationality of the woman, aged 83, has not been made public.

An airport official told Russia’s TASS news agency that the passenger had ‘felt bad and the captain made the decision to make an emergency landing in Tashkent’.

‘Immediately afterwards the passenger died,’ the official, who was not named, is reported to have said.

‘The airport administration does not yet know when the paperwork required in such cases will be completed and the aircraft will fly to its destination’.

The flight was further delayed after a ‘technical problem’ emerged as the flight was being refuelled, according to the Uzbek media.

Special dispensation had to be given for a local engineer to fix a malfunctioning pump on the Boeing 777, an aircraft not normally seen in Tashkent.