Couple forced to sit next to dead woman for hours after she collapsed on long-haul flight
25 February 2025, 06:46
A couple were forced to sit next to a dead woman for hours on a long-haul flight, after she collapsed onboard.
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Married couple Mitchell Ring and Jennifer Colin were flying from Melbourne to Venice when a fellow passenger died.
After she died, air crew members tried to move the body up to business class, but she was too large and could not pass down the aisle.
As their next solution, air crew looked for empty seats with space around them, and found that the row where Mr Ring and Ms Colin were sitting had some vacancies.
Mr Ring said of staff: "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, we were in a row of four.
"They said, 'Can you move over please?' and I just said, 'Yes no problem'.
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"Then they placed the lady in the chair I was in."
The woman's body was covered up with blankets.
Mr Ring said that Qatar Airways, the operator of the flight, did not offer them alternative seats.
Ms Colin, a nervous flyer, was given a spare seat on the row behind by a fellow passenger.
Mr Ring was forced to sit close to the body for the rest of the trip to Italy.
When they arrived, the couple were forced to wait further while emergency services took off the blankets that were covering up the woman.
Mr Ring added: "I can't believe they told us to stay … it wasn't nice."
He said: "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 counselling.
"I don't really know how I feel and would like to speak to somebody to make sure I'm alright."
A spokesperson for Qatar Airways said: "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."
