A British Airways flight that should’ve taken twelve hours was forced to divert back to Gatwick, having only got as far as Germany. Flight BA2065 left the UK at around 9pm on Tuesday, October 16, and was due to land at Port Louis, Mauritius, at 12.20pm local time today, Wednesday.

But the flight was forced to return to Gatwick “as a precaution”, BA has said. Now some UK holidaymakers in Mauritius are experiencing huge delays while trying to come home.

On X, formerly Twitter, one traveller said: “We were due to fly home from Mauritius today on BA2064. We have been delayed until tomorrow afternoon, we have no idea what to do regarding accommodation and have a one year old with us.” A second said: “We’re due to return from Mauritius flight BA2064. Received a message saying it’s been delayed by 17hours”.

Replies from the official British Airways account have told passengers they will be contacted “as soon as possible”. A BA spokesperson said: “The aircraft returned to London Gatwick as a precaution where it landed normally. Our teams are working to get our customers to their destination as soon as possible.”