An Air France Boeing 777 flying from Dakar to Paris diverted to Casablanca on Wednesday after its crew declared an emergency over Moroccan airspace, flight-tracking data showed.
Flight AF711 departed Blaise Diagne International Airport at about 7:32 a.m. GMT for Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, according to Flightradar24.
The aircraft involved was a Boeing 777-300ER registered F-GZNG.
About two and a half hours after departure, the crew selected transponder code 7700 while the aircraft was flying near Morocco’s Atlantic coast. Its track then showed a turn near Casablanca and a rapid descent.
Flightradar24 later listed the flight as diverted to Casablanca’s Mohammed V International Airport. Other flight-status services also recorded the diversion, although some continued displaying an estimated arrival time for Paris.
Air France had not confirmed the reason for the emergency or provided information about passengers and crew at the time of publication. Moroccan aviation authorities had also not issued a statement.
Code 7700 alerts air traffic controllers that an aircraft faces a general emergency and requires priority handling. The code does not identify the nature or severity of the problem.
Technical faults, medical emergencies and cabin-pressure problems can all prompt crews to use the code, but there was no verified evidence establishing any of those causes in this case.
Air traffic controllers typically clear surrounding traffic and give the affected aircraft priority for descent and landing. The diversion placed the flight at Morocco’s largest airport, which has runways capable of handling widebody aircraft such as the Boeing 777.
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