A husband and wife say they were forced to sit next to a woman’s body for several hours after she dropped dead on a 15-hour flight.
Mitchell Ring and Jennifer Colin were en route from Melbourne to Doha when the unidentified female passenger suffered a medical emergency in the aisle during through the long-haul Qatar Airways flight, A Current Affair reported.
“Unfortunately the lady couldn’t be saved, which was pretty heartbreaking to watch,” Ring told the TV show Tuesday.
“They tried to wheel her up towards business class, but she was quite a large lady and they couldn’t get her through the aisle.”
The Australian couple, who had two spare seats in their row of four, said the “frustrated” flight crew then asked them to shift over so they could prop the corpse up alongside them.
“They said, ‘Can you move over please?’ and I just said, ‘Yes no problem’,” he said.
“Then they placed the lady in the chair I was in.”
A shocking photo of the grim ordeal captured Ring watching his TV as the woman’s body sat next to him.
Ring claims he spent four hours sitting next to the woman’s blanket-covered body.
When they finally landed, the couple — who were flying to Italy — said the airline crew told them to remain in their seats while first responders came to retrieve the body.
“I can’t believe they told us to stay … it wasn’t nice,” Ring said.
Qatar Airways said they were in the process of reaching out to the couple in the wake of the ordeal.
“First and foremost our thoughts are with the family of the passenger who sadly passed away on board our flight,” a Qatar Airways spokesperson said in a statement.
“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.”
