Strange incident on board a plane. Family accused of boarding woman's body. What happened after
Photo: Piero Cruciatti | Dreamstime.com
An easyJet plane on the Malaga – London Gatwick route was recently the scene of a bizarre incident. Several passengers have accused a family from Great Britain of having boarded the body of their grandmother, an 89-year-old woman, claiming that she was asleep, reports the international press.
According to the Daily Mail, the woman was carried onto the plane in a wheelchair by five of her relatives. When they were asked about the condition of the woman at the time of boarding, the relatives would have assured the ground staff that she was not feeling well and that she had simply fallen asleep, writes News.ro.
The British newspaper revealed that some witnesses claim to have heard relatives justifying the situation to staff, saying: “She's fine, she's just tired” and even adding: “It's fine, we're doctors.”
The plan initially seemed to work, as the group managed to get the woman into a seat at the back of the plane. However, when the aircraft was about to take off, shortly after 11:00 local time, the cabin crew realized that the passenger had died, so it was necessary to stop the plane before leaving the runway.
Petra Boddington, one of the passengers, told the Daily Mail that she couldn't believe what had happened: “What were the easyJet ground staff thinking today? They asked the family five times if the woman was okay, but it was clear she wasn't!” Boddington described how, at first glance, the woman looked “already deceased in a wheelchair”.
The passenger suggested that the family's motivation could have been financial: “Why would he have been allowed to board the plane and disrupt everyone's plans… just to spare the family the costs of repatriation? If I had been drunk, they wouldn't have let me board, but apparently, if you're dead, there's no problem.”
Another passenger, Tracy-Ann Kitching, expressed her dissatisfaction on social networks, also emphasizing the responsibility of the special assistance service for passengers with reduced mobility. “I saw her being put on the plane; someone was holding her head when they passed me! A doctor on board confirmed that she was already dead when they put her down,” she said.
The official version and the delay
In response to the passengers' allegations, an easyJet spokesman denied that a deceased person had been allowed to board.
The airline ensured that the passenger had a fit to fly certificate and that she was alive when she boarded the plane.
“The flight returned to the stand before take-off due to a passenger requiring urgent medical attention. The flight was met by emergency services, but unfortunately the passenger died,” the airline said.
The Malaga Civil Guard confirmed that its officers went to the aircraft and that the woman was pronounced dead inside the plane, which was due to take off on Thursday, shortly after 11:00 local time.
The incident caused a delay of around 12 hours and the flight finally took off only at 11.47pm. No arrests have been made among family members.
It should be noted that transporting remains across borders is a complex and expensive procedure, usually carried out by cargo flights and requiring official death certificates and special coffins.
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