CITIZENS COMPASS – Britons have been left stranded in Africa today with ‘no information’ after Niger coup leaders closed the country’s airspace affecting a large section of the continent.

Airlines were forced to divert aircraft ‘six hours into flights’ when the military leaders who took over the West African country suddenly stopped all flights late last night, citing the threat of a military intervention.

Some 500 passengers making their way back to the UK this morning saw their British Airways flight diverted back to Johannesburg.

They said that when the plane landed people were wandering aimlessly around the airport, with some crying.

Another Brit had been on board a flight for six hours before the pilot was forced to make a U-turn, and will now have to spend 14 hours in the terminal before taking another 12-hour flight.

A handful of British Airways flights were disrupted by the closure, with it also impacting Virgin Atlantic.

One Virgin Atlantic flight from Johannesburg was affected but was able to arrive at London Heathrow three hours and 50 minutes after its scheduled arrival time, due to alternative routing and following a refuelling stop in Lagos, Nigeria.

The political crisis in Libya and the conflict in Sudan means those countries are already closed to commercial flights, with the latter extending its ban until the end of the month. 

Now the shutdown of Niger’s airspace means the area in central Africa where commercial flights are off limits has been widened.   

As a result, flights between Europe and southern Africa will have to travel an extra 620 miles, according to plane-tracking website Flightradar24. 

It comes after Niger’s coup leaders were given a week to restore ousted President Mohamed Bazoum or face the possibility of military action from the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas).

After the deadline passed last night, Niger’s mutinous military closed the country’s airspace and accused foreign powers of preparing an attack, and said any attempt to fly over the country would be met with ‘an energetic and immediate response’.

John Foreman had been on a London Heathrow-bound British Airways flight with 500 or so passengers for ten hours when the pilot announced the plane would be landing back in Johannesburg.

Mr Foreman told MailOnline he was travelling with 13 other family members – including children – after a one-week holiday and was expecting the flight to land in the UK within the next hour.

We had done the full flight and thought we were going to land in London and were told we had gone back to Johannesburg – I mean, it was quite right [the airline crew] didn’t want to tell anyone,’ he said.

‘It was a bit of a shock and you thought, “Why can’t they go somewhere else?”. Apparently they didn’t have enough fuel.’

Mr Foreman said that when he landed in the South African city, there was no one from British Airways to help them and absolute chaos in the airport.

He said there was ‘no information’ for passengers, with hundreds wandering aimlessly around – some in tears – and congregating around the bus station after rumours began to swirl the airline would be transporting them to a hotel.

‘Some people were crying and they were incredibly upset, confused, and frightened. They didn’t have a clue what was going on,’ he said.

Venting his fury at British Airways, he added: ‘Why was the airline not prepared? Everyone knew the deadline [Niger’s coup leaders were given] and that this was a serious possibility. But yet the flight takes off and then this… the unpreparedness. It was like chickens with heads cut off.

‘If it had been easyJet or Ryanair they would have had their own staff on the ground.’

Mr Foreman was eventually transported to a hotel with his family, but he still has no idea when he will be on a flight back home.

He said: ‘Still there is no one telling you anything. I guess they [British Airways] are trying to organise flights and figure it out. But they didn’t even tell people how to get a bus [to the hotel].

‘We were okay as we were in a group. It’s much worse for those who are by themselves. I take a lot of comfort in that.’

Another Brit – who did not want to be named – told MailOnline she had been on a two-week family holiday in Mauritius with her husband and two children, aged seven and 11.

The pilot woke us up around six hours into the flight to tell us he was having to turn round as we couldn’t go round or divert anywhere,’ she said.

‘Everyone was fine and calm on board as what else can you do? There were people who were going to miss their connecting flights, though.

‘The crew were updated when we landed and they had to rush off to get rest for the rerun journey, so haven’t seen them since.

‘We have been lucky in that we have paid to go into a lounge at the airport so we can get a shower and my husband can use the wifi for a meeting he should have been at this afternoon. 

We have also been and bought some new clothes to help freshen up – but appreciate this is a luxury that others won’t be able to do.

‘The staff in the airport have been useless and gave out vouchers for food in alphabetical order so it took three hours for us to get to them, by which time we had paid to go into the lounge anyway.

‘They haven’t told us directly when the return flight would be, but as I have good wifi in the lounge I received an email from British Airways so only knew via that.

‘All in all we had a 12-hour flight, 14 and a half hours in the airport and then a 12-and-a-half-hour flight home due to the route we now have to take back.

The people in the lounge at the airport have been great, though, and one of the employees even gave my son his own phone so he could watch the England match.

‘Everyone in the main terminal seems quite calm and are just accepting it.

‘We are all just very tired.’

Others took to Twitter confused that their flights had returned to where they had jetted off from ‘without any warning’.

A spokesperson for British Airways said: ‘We’ve apologised to those customers affected for the disruption to their journeys. Our teams are working hard to get them on their way again as quickly as possible.’

Regional tensions have mounted since mutinous soldiers overthrew Niger’s democratically elected president nearly two weeks ago, detaining him and installing General Abdourahmane Tchiani as head of state. General Tchiani was head of the presidential guard, and is accused of leading the coup with several members of his unit.

Analysts say the coup is believed to have been triggered by a power struggle between him and the president, who was about to fire him.

It was not immediately clear what Ecowas will do now that the deadline has passed, especially because the region is divided on a course of action.

On Saturday, Nigeria’s Senate pushed back on the plan to invade, urging Nigeria’s president, the bloc’s chairman, to explore options other than the use of force. Ecowas can still move ahead, as final decisions are made by consensus by member states.

An Ecowas delegation sent to Niger last week for talks was not allowed to leave the airport, and met only representatives of General Tchiani.

On Sunday, junta leaders appeared at a rally in the capital, Niamey, promising the thousands of supporters present that their loyalty would not be betrayed.

We are with you against them. We will give you the Niger that you are owed,’ said junta member Brigadier-General Mohamed Toumba said.

MailOnline has contacted Virgin Atlantic and the Foreign Office for comment.

• Daily Mail