A children's football team from Fandi Ahmad's football academy is stranded at Turkey's Antalya Airport following an attempted military coup in Istanbul and Ankara, the F-17 Academy said on Saturday (Jul 16).

A post on its Facebook page said the team comprises two 8-year-olds, four 10-year-olds, five 11-year-olds, a 12-year-old, a 14-year-old and two coaches. Six parents are also accompanying them on the trip. 

Said the F-17 academy: "They were on flight TK55 headed for Copenhagen with transit in Istanbul. Flight got diverted due to the military coup. Now they are in Antalya Terminal 2. No one seems to be attending to them there. And there are thousands of people there from the numerous flights that got redirected to Antalya. Worse, now they want to transfer our kids, coaches and parents to Terminal 1 because of overcrowding and they may require the team to stay overnight there."

The team was headed for Gothenburg, Sweden to represent Singapore in the Gothia World Youth Cup 2016, which is due to kick off on Sunday.

When contacted, the director of the F-17 football academy, Nabil Yusoff, told Channel NewsAsia: "We're trying to soldier on and purchase new flights to Copenhagen to catch our train or even direct to Gothenburg. However, Antalya is still closed! So we can purchase new flights out but (when) will it depart?"

The football academy said it has contacted Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) and the Singapore embassy in Ankara for assistance. "We are desperately trying to reach Turkish Airlines but to no avail. We plead for assistance from anyone who can help get our kids out of Turkey ASAP," it said.

Singapore's MFA has issued an advisory urging citizens to avoid non-essential travel to Turkey. It said citizens who are in Turkey should stay indoors and contact its embassy in Ankara.

(Channel News Asia)