Indian passenger dies mid-air on Delhi-Milan flight
ABU DHABI : An Alitalia New Delhi-Milan flight made an emergency landing in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) following the death of an Indian man onboard the flight, Indian Embassy officials said.
A 52-year-old man from Rajasthan has died mid-air while he was travelling with his 26-year-old son on a New Delhi-Milan flight of Alitalia airlines. The plane made an emergency landing at the Abu Dhabi International Airport in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Monday night after the incident. The Indian embassy officials have confirmed the death of Kailash Chandra Saini. His son Heera Lal was in shock.
Saini’s body was taken to the Mafraq Hospital in Abu Dhabi while his son waited at the airport to complete the formalities, the Khaleej Times. A death certificate was issued on Tuesday and the body will be sent back home on an Etihad flight, the news report quoted an embassy counselor M. Rajamurugan as saying. Saini hails from Rajasthan’s Jhunjhunun district. It is an extremely unfortunate incident, but all officials are working to ensure the body is repatriated at the earliest, a UAE official said.
Last year, another Indian had died mid-flight when he travelling to his home town in Punjab from New Zealand. A Hong Kong Airlines flight had to make an emergency landing in Darwin after 25-year-old Beant Singh stopped breathing. Singh was travelling to his native town in Punjab’s Moga district when the tragedy struck. According to sbs.com.au, Singh had gone to New Zealand on a spouse visa three years before the incident. One of Singh’s two sisters was studying in Auckland at the time.
Singh reportedly collapsed after a massive heart attack mid-flight. The on board crew had tried to revive him by resuscitation methods but remained unsuccessful.
He was scheduled to take a connecting flight from Hong Kong to reach New Delhi. The Hong Kong-bound flight from Auckland resumed its onward journey after a three-hour emergency stoppage at the Darwin airport. (With Agency Inputs ).
