An Australian couple have recounted the “traumatic” experience of having a deceased passenger’s body placed next to them during a Qatar Airways flight. Mitchell Ring and Jennifer Colin were en route to Venice for a dream holiday when a woman died in the aisle next to them on the Melbourne to Doha flight.
The couple claimed that the cabin crew positioned the woman’s body, covered in blankets, next to Mr Ring for the remaining four hours of the journey without offering to relocate him, despite there being vacant seats. Qatar Airways has issued an apology for “any inconvenience or distress this incident may have caused”, stating that it is in the process of contacting the passengers, the BBC reported.
However, the couple said they had not been contacted or offered support by either Qatar Airways or Qantas, through whom they booked their flight. They believe there should be a protocol in place to ensure passengers are cared for in such circumstances.
Speaking to Channel Nine’s Current Affair programme, Mr Ring said that staff had reacted “in no time” when the woman collapsed, but sadly she could not be saved. He added that the cabin crew attempted to move her body towards business class, but due to her size, they were unable to manoeuvre her through the aisle.
Mr Ring said that the crew noticed available seats next to him and asked him to move over, to which he agreed. “Then they placed the lady in the chair I was in.”
While Ms Colin found an alternative seat nearby, Mr Ring reported that the cabin crew did not offer him the chance to move, despite there being available seats. After the plane’s four-hour journey ended, passengers were instructed to remain seated while medical personnel and police boarded the aircraft.
Mr Ring witnessed the removal of blankets from the deceased woman, exposing her face. The couple emphasised the need for a “duty of care” towards both customers and staff.
“We should be contacted to make sure, do you need some support, do you need some counselling?,” said Ms Colin, describing the ordeal as “traumatic” and acknowledging. “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.”
Qatar Airways said in a statement: “First and foremost, our thoughts are with the family of the passenger who sadly passed away on board our flight.”
The airline also apologised for any inconvenience or distress caused by the incident and confirmed it was contacting passengers as per its policies. A Qantas representative clarified that the responsibility for managing such incidents lay with the operating airline, which was Qatar Airways in this case.
Barry Eustance, an ex-Virgin Atlantic captain, noted that deaths during flights happen more often than people realise, but to his knowledge, no specific protocol exists for handling these situations.
He said: “On a long haul flight it tends to depend largely on when it occurs and where it occurs and what the crew have in terms of facilities to place the body somewhere because on an aeroplane, there’s no access to the hold, there’s a crew rest area but that’s for the crew so it can be problematical.”
A toilet area or galley area could be blocked off for this purpose, he explained, but crews are obliged to keep a certain number of toilets open for passengers. Mr Eustance expressed his surprise that Mr Ring was not moved if there were available seats, saying: “I would expect the crew would do all they could to avoid that. You are creating potential future liabilities in terms of the trauma of the people next to whom the body was placed.
“In my experience the crew would normally try to isolate the body, so there is no passenger exposure to the body and vice versa, for respect and privacy but also for medical reasons. You have a dead body that is uncontained and all that goes with it.”