A passenger on an international flight from Bangkok to Munich died on Thursday after experiencing a “medical emergency” that reportedly involved losing liters of blood during the flight.
A spokesman for Lufthansa German Airlines confirmed to PEOPLE on Sunday that although “immediate and comprehensive first aid measures were taken by the crew and the on-board doctor,” a passenger on LH773 (Airbus A380) died mid-flight and the crew decided to return to Bangkok after an hour and half in the air.
“The instructions of the medical emergency service and the Thai authorities were followed there. Passengers on the canceled flight have meanwhile been rebooked on other flights,” the statement said.
“Our thoughts are with the relatives of the deceased passenger. We also regret the inconvenience caused to passengers on this flight.”
Passengers on the flight described the scene as reported by multiple media outlets over the weekend, including New York Post, The Independent and Business Insider, they all quoted Swiss news outlets Blick.
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Inside the Airbus SE A340 passenger plane.
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The outlet reported that the passenger was a 63-year-old man who was flying with a woman believed to be his wife. Passenger Karin Missfelder noticed that the man “was sweating coldly, breathing too fast and was already apathetic.”
Missfelder, who said she was sitting one row behind the passenger, added that the flight attendant “was very concerned” about the man and that she herself asked another flight attendant to get a doctor. “[The captain] then he called a doctor over the loudspeaker — and a young, about 30-year-old man from Poland with bad English looked at the German,” said Missfelder Blick.
As the fellow passenger explained, the man was given chamomile tea because he started “spitting blood into the bag his wife handed him” and lost liters of blood from his mouth and nose, some of which hit the walls of the plane. . “It was absolute horror, everyone was screaming.”
After the flight crew attempted “resuscitation,” which “lasted about half an hour,” Missfelder added that there was “dead silence on the plane.”
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As Business Insider it said, citing online air traffic tracker flightradar24, the flight left Bangkok International Airport at 12:07 a.m. local time before finally returning.
In a statement to PEOPLE, the airline said it could not disclose specific information regarding the incident. “Please understand that we generally cannot provide any additional details in the event of a medical emergency for privacy reasons,” the airline noted.
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Source: HIS Education