Qantas A380 diverts to Baku after passenger suffers cardiac arrest

A Qantas Airbus A380 made an emergency landing in Baku, Azerbaijan, after a passenger suffered a cardiac arrest mid-flight. The incident occurred on June 8, 2025, during Qantas flight QF002 from London Heathrow (LHR) to Singapore Changi (SIN), which continues onward to Sydney. Approximately five and a half hours into the flight, while cruising at 37,000 feet near the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan border, the crew decided to divert.

Flight data from Flightradar24 shows the aircraft landed safely at Baku Heydar Aliyev International Airport (GYD) at around 07:55 local time, nearly eight hours after departure. Onboard, Dr. Hamish Urquhart, an Australian physician, along with an ophthalmologist and retired surgeon, stabilized the woman in her 60s before landing. She was later transferred to a nearby hospital in Baku.

Following the emergency landing, Qantas advised the 400 passengers they would remain overnight in Baku, as the flight crew had exceeded their legal duty hours. The airline provided hotel accommodations and arranged onward travel to Singapore the following day. The A380 involved, registered VH-OQB, was scheduled to continue its journey on June 9, 2025.

This marks the second unscheduled Qantas A380 landing in Baku. In December 2022, another Qantas A380 diverted there due to a cargo smoke warning, later attributed to a faulty sensor. Baku serves as a designated emergency diversion airport for Qantas on its ultra-long-haul routes between Europe and Asia.

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