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The first flight chartered by the UK government to bring back Britons stranded in the Middle East by the US-Israeli war against Iran did not take off from Oman on Wednesday.
The plane, which was due to depart Muscat at 7pm on Wednesday, was not able to take off due to “technical issues”, the government said. It is instead due to depart later on Thursday.
Some 130,000 Britons have registered their presence in the Middle East, and the Foreign Office has said it is working with airlines to bring them back.
There was no sign of the chartered flight arriving at Heathrow airport on Thursday morning, and it did not appear on flight tracking services or arrival boards at the terminal.
A spokesperson from the Foreign Office told The Independent: “The UK government charter flight was not able to depart from Oman yesterday as planned due to technical issues. The flight is now expected to depart later today.”
Early morning arrivals included flights from South Africa and Nigeria as scheduled, but the terminal was quiet.
A few commercial flights from the Middle East are due to arrive at Terminal 5 this morning, with one from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, landing just after 6am.
A shepherd boy walks away from an unexploded Iranian missile in Qamishli, eastern Syria (AP)
A British Airways flight from Muscat, due to arrive at 6.25 this morning, is delayed until 8.13am, according to an arrival board.
Flights from Doha and Dubai have been cancelled.