A Delta flight to Israel was forced to turn around and land in Dublin after 6 hours in the air

• A Delta Air Lines flight to Israel was forced to divert after six hours and land in Dublin.
• An air traffic control recording suggests it was due to a medical emergency.
• Passengers are set to arrive in Israel nearly three hours behind schedule.

A Delta Air Lines flight to Israel turned around and diverted to Dublin, about halfway through its journey.

Flight 234 took off from New York's JFK Airport shortly before 4 p.m. on Monday. It was scheduled to arrive in Tel Aviv around 10 hours later.

However, six hours into the journey, the plane changed course just off England's west coast, according to flight-tracking data.

The Airbus A330 U-turned and crossed the Irish Sea to make for Dublin, where it landed safely.

It appears the plane had to turn around due to a medical emergency, according to an air traffic control recording.

Delta did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent outside US working hours.

Data from Flightradar24 shows the same plane departed Dublin at 5:25 a.m. local time on Tuesday. That's about two hours after it landed in the Irish capital.

Passengers are expected to arrive in Israel around noon local time, a delay of just under three hours.

The fact that the plane had already crossed the Atlantic Ocean meant the flight had a smaller delay than some past in-flight medical emergencies.

Last April, a British Airways flight from the Bahamas changed course over the ocean and diverted to Gander, in Canada's Newfoundland, due to a medical emergency.

The plane took off again about three hours later, but had to stop in Iceland because the flight crew was about to exceed their working-hour limit.