A pilot has been praised for turning a plane around moments before take-off so an elderly couple could visit their dying grandson in hospital.

The pair found out their grandchild was in intensive care while on board an Abu Dhabi-bound plane taxiing towards a runway at Manchester airport.

After the pair told the crew, the pilot turned the plane back towards the gate while staff arranged for their luggage and a car so they could get to their ill grandson's bedside.

He died later that same night on March 31.

"I've been in the travel business for 25 years and never heard of this happening," the couple's travel agent, Becky Stephenson, told the BBC.

Ms Stephenson praised the Etihad Airways pilot, adding that her customers were "so grateful that staff were very helpful and they were taken care of".