Man forced to sit next to corpse after woman died midway through flight

Yahoo

25-02-2025

(WJW) — An Australian couple was left shaken after the body of a woman who died midway through a flight was placed on a seat right next to them.
Mitchell Ring and Jennifer Colin sat down for an emotional interview on the Australian news program 'A Current Affair' after they arrived in Italy for a planned vacation, but what happened on the plane was still very much on their minds.
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They explained how a woman on the Qatar Airways flight had come out of the bathroom and suddenly collapsed in the aisle next to their seats. Ring said the flight crew did everything they could to revive the woman but they were unsuccessful.
'Unfortunately the lady couldn't be saved, which was pretty heartbreaking to watch,' Ring said.
He went on to detail how the crew then brought a wheeled chair into the aisle in an attempt to move the woman toward the front of the plane. However, because of the woman's size, they weren't able to move her.
Ring said at that point he was asked by the flight crew if he and Colin could move over. He noted that they were the only two passengers seated in a row of four.
'They said, 'Can you move over please?' and I just said, 'Yes, no problem,'' Ring told the program. 'Then they placed the lady in the chair I was in.'
Colin quickly moved across the aisle and sat in an empty seat next to another passenger, but for the remainder of the flight, which was 3.5 to 4 hours, Ring said he was never offered a different seat despite there being several empty spots in the plane.
He also detailed another incident that happened after the plane landed. Ring said all the passengers in their area were told to stay seated as the ambulance crews and police officers made their way onto the plane.
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'Then the ambulance officers started pulling the blankets off the lady right beside me. I was there and I got to see her face, yeah…it wasn't nice,' said Ring, visibly uncomfortable as he recounted the memory.
The couple said they sent emails to Qantas Airlines, the airline they booked through, and initially received no response. They also noted a lack of support from Qatar Airlines.
'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? This has never happened to us before, I don't really know how I feel, and would like to talk to someone to make sure I'm alright' Ring said.
According to 'A Current Affair,' after the interview with the couple, 'Qatar Airways says it is looking into the situation,' and a spokesperson for the company issued a statement to news.com.au Monday afternoon.
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'First and foremost our thoughts are with the family of the passenger who sadly passed away on board our flight,' the statement read.
'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.'
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