A Turkish Airlines flight, TK45, which departed Cape Town for Istanbul on Thursday, had to divert to Johannesburg after experiencing technical difficulties.

The plane landed safely at OR Tambo International Airport at 10.15pm, four hours and five minutes after take-off from Cape Town.

Aviation Central posted on Facebook that shortly after take-off, “the crew experienced difficulty retracting the landing gear”.

Emmett Quanne confirmed this on Twitter, stating “can confirm via binoculars that front landing gear is down”.

After holding for two hours over Robben Island, it was decided by the crew to divert to Johannesburg. Aviation Central said: “Johannesburg offers more possibilities such as hotels close to the airport, maintenance and other connecting flights.”

After “progressing low and slow”, the flight made it safely to Johannesburg.

Aeronews Global said the Airbus A330-300 was nine years old.

Passengers on board the flight shared frustration at the lack of information shared by the airline. RST@rst_za posted, “Hey guys, the TK45 incident is a total mess. No information, no planning. Look forward to a better experience tomorrow ...” Kevin O' Keeffe (@Spanto88) tweeted, “Terrifying ordeal and Turkish Airlines pilot was terrible with providing information.”