Air France flight 1184 from Paris to Tunisia diverted after declaring emergency at 36,000ft

The nature of the emergency was unknown but the plane landed safely

The plane returned to Paris after the emergency (Getty)

An Air France flight from Paris to Tunis has been diverted after declaring an emergency at 36,000ft.

Flight AF 1184 reportedly sent out a 7700 distress signal just an hour into its journey as it passed over the Livradois-Forez Regional Natural Park, in southern France.

The reason for the “squawk” is unknown but the plane carried out a U-turn at around 1.30pm, data from online trackers showed.

Flight Aware's record of Air France 1184's flight path (FLightaware.com)

The Airbus A319 has since landed safely at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, where it was directed to return to.

Air France representatives told Russia Today that the aircraft experienced "a minor technical problem".

The incident comes almost a week after two Germanwings planes had to make unscheduled landings within 24 hours.

A flight from Hanover to Rome diverted to Venice after a passenger and crew member suddenly became unwell, while a flight from Cologne to Venice had to land in Stuttgart because it appeared to be losing oil.

The investigation into the crash of flight 9525 last month, which killed 150 people, continues.

Investigators believe co-pilot Andreas Lubitz deliberately ploughed it into the French Alps after locking the captain out of the cockpit.