Passenger's body left on plane seat for 10 hours after she dies on board flight

11 November 2023 , 10:30

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The flight landed in the Brazilian city of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais (Image: Getty Images)

The dead body of an aeroplane passenger was left on a business class seat for 10 hours after she died mid flight from the US to Brazil, it has been revealed.

The woman tragically died in the middle of an Azul Airlines flight from Fort Lauderdale in Florida State to Belo Horizonte International Airport in Confins, Brazil, close to the city of Rio de Janeiro. When the plane finally landed after the eight-hour flights, the body had to stay on board the plane while police investigated and the coroner performed the necessary tests, local media outlets reported.

It is believed the woman’s body stayed in its place for a total of 10 hours, with the other passengers only being let off 40 minutes after the plane landed at 7:05am on the 7th November. After assessing the body, it was confirmed by Federal Police that the death was due to natural causes.

The passenger’s identity has not been revealed yet by the airline or by police. Azul Airlines confirmed in a statement that a woman became suddenly ill on flight AD8733 which was bound for Confins, in the state of Minas Gerais. In a statement, the Brazilian budget airline said: "Unfortunately, she did not survive and died during the flight, as confirmed by a doctor on board." They will be giving support to the family members of the late passenger.

The woman died mid-flight after departing from Fort Lauderdale (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Minas Gerais Civil Police also released a statement which read: "As soon as we became aware of the facts, we requested the presence of a hearse at Confins airport to take the body to the Medical-Legal Institute." The woman’s body is now undergoing a post-mortem in order to ascertain the exact cause of her tragic death.

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The situation on Azul Airlines wasn’t an unheard-of scenario. In September, 14-hour Qatar Airways flight QR908 between Doha and Sydney also had to leave a dead passenger in a seat - surrounded by other passengers - as they had nowhere else to put it. Married couple Francesca and Enrico said the crew “just left her” with a blanket covering the body, PaddleYourOwnKanoo reported.

The same happened on an Azur Air flight between Turkey and Moscow, where a 50-year-old Russian woman, who had diabetes died only 45 minutes into the flight. The woman also had diabetes, the Independent reported.

According to the National Safety Council, the number of civil aviation deaths in 2021 was 376. Of these, 372 were onboard fatalities - however they say that none of these occurred on a commercial airline. Most were from the ‘general aviation’ category, which according to the National Aviation Academy includes most types of flights outside commercial ones: private jets, transporting humanitarian goods, fighting forest fires, business or pleasure flights, and many more.

Alex Croft