A Polish passenger plane en route to Paphos diverted to Antalya due to a medical emergency, but it was not allowed to continue to Cyprus unless it flew back to its last departure airport in Rhodes.

Flight E45087, operated by Enter Air, was flying from Warsaw to Paphos via Rhodes on Thursday, carrying 187 passengers, when one of them faced a medical emergency mid-flight and the pilot had to land in Turkey.

Media reports say the medical emergency was handled at the Turkish airport and then the pilot filed a new flight plan with Paphos as a destination.

But Turkish authorities refused to approve a flight plan from Antalya to the Republic of Cyprus, forcing the pilots to file a new plan back to the Greek island of Rhodes, which was the flight’s last stop.

The flight, which was scheduled to arrive at 11:05 am, finally landed in Paphos at 2:49pm, – a delay of four hours – while the patient and a fellow passenger stayed behind in Antalya.