Imagine yourself being on a plane and heading towards your dream vacation, only to realise that a passenger sitting beside you isn’t alive, but dead.
This was the terrifying ordeal an Australian couple had to endure, where they were forced to have the corpse of a passenger who passed away during their 14-hour flight be placed right next to them.
Woman collapses & dies mid-flight
Speaking to Australia’s Channel 9 ‘A Current Affair’, the couple, Mitchell Ring and Jennifer Colin, said they were on their flight to Venice and were about 10 hours into the flight from Melbourne to Doha when tragedy struck.
During the flight, a woman had just walked out from the bathroom when she suddenly collapsed and died right before their eyes.
“Unfortunately, the lady couldn’t be saved, which was pretty heartbreaking to watch. They tried to wheel her up towards business class, but she was quite a large lady, and they couldn’t get her through the aisle,” recounted Ring.
Couple forced to sit next to dead body for 4 hours
Not knowing what to do next, the flight crew looked towards Ring’s way and noticed that there were several empty seats near him.
“They looked a bit frustrated, then they just looked at me and saw seats were available beside me; my wife was on the other side, and we were in a row of four.
They said, ‘Can you move over please?’ and I just said, ‘Yes, no problem’. Then they placed the lady in the chair I was in.”
For the next four hours, Ring and Colin had to sit with the woman’s corpse right next to them and weren’t allowed to change seats until the plane landed for medical crew to remove the body.
To make things worse, Ring said when ambulance officers arrived to take the body, they removed the blankets covering the corpse in full view, leading him to catch a glimpse of the woman’s face.
Claimed airline offered no support
Needless to say, the encounter left the couple deeply shaken, especially Colin, who had a hard time keeping her emotions in check during the interview with Channel 9.
“We totally understand that we can’t hold the airline responsible for the poor lady’s death, but there has to be a protocol to look after the customers on board,” she said.
Ring also claimed that the airline never reached out to him or Colin over the incident despite sending multiple emails.
They have a duty of care towards their customers as well as their staff, we should be contacted to make sure, do you need some support, do you need some counseling?”
Airline issues statement
In a statement, Qatar Airways apologised for the incident and said it’s reaching out to passengers who were onboard the flight.
“First and foremost our thoughts are with the family of the passenger who sadly passed away on board our flight.
“We apologise for any inconvenience or distress this incident may have caused, and are in the process of contacting passengers in line with our policies and procedures.”
Watch the full interview here:
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