Passengers on Perth to London flight stranded in Maldives following medical emergency on flight

A Qantas flight from Perth to London has been forced to divert and land in the Maldives after a medical emergency on board.

The airline confirmed flight QF9 — which departed Perth about 6.30pm on Monday — was travelling over the Indian Ocean when it had to divert and land in the island nation of the Maldives, around 750km south of the Indian mainland.

The flight landed at around 11.30pm in the Maldives after almost eight hours of flying.

It is understood the flight staff onboard reached their duty limit so where unable to continue the flight after the emergency was resolved, leaving passengers stranded in the nation’s capital, Male.

According to a Qantas spokesperson the Boeing 787 aircraft flight work was being done to assist impacted customers.

“Earlier this morning our QF9 Perth to London service diverted to Male in the Maldives due to a medical incident onboard,” they said.

“We apologise to customers for the disruption and are working to reaccommodate them on alternate services out of Male in the next 24 hours.”

Qantas staff are travelling from London to Male to provide additional support.