Mayday Issued Due to Sick Passenger on Air France Flight

March 21, 2014— -- An Air France flight was voluntarily diverted to Malta Friday, with a mayday issued. An airline spokesman told ABC News that the situation involved a sick passenger.

Flight AF643 departed from Reunion, a French island in the Indian Ocean, and was headed to Paris when a passenger fell ill, at risk for a heart attack, the spokesman said. Emergency crews with the SAMU medical department advised that the plane be diverted, so the pilots landed in Malta.

The mayday call was audible on air traffic control communications.

After the plane landed, the passenger was removed and taken to a nearby hospital.

All other passengers remained on board, and the plane is scheduled to continue its journey.