Passenger dies on board flight, ‘unaided’ by helpless Jet crew

A 53-year-old male passenger died on board a DelhiMumbai Jet Airways flight on Sunday. The passenger, Mohammad Afroz Ahmad, who was travelling with his nephew from Patna to Mumbai, had boarded Jet Airways flight number 9W 376 from New Delhi late evening.

Ahmad’s family members as well as co-passengers have accused the Jet Airways cabin crew of not making an emergency landing at Delhi and forcing the passenger to travel all the way to Mumbai for medical assistance.

The spokesperson of Jet Airways, however, denied the charge saying, “The flight crew immediately attended to the guest.”

Ahmad’s nephew Iftekhar Alam told the Free Press Journal that the cabin crew did not provide adequate medical assistance to the victim who developed acute breathlessness immediately after the flight took off.

“My uncle complained of serious breathlessness just after the flight took off from Delhi. We told the cabin crew about his medical condition but they began shouting at us,” Alam said.

He said the crew also questioned him for travelling with an unwell person. “Despite repetitive requests for making an emergency landing at Delhi airport on serious medical grounds, the crew members did not co-operate and forced us to wait till we landed in Mumbai. My uncle died mid-air,” Alam lamented.

In fact, one of the co-passengers, Sakshi Bhardwaj, had attempted cardio resuscitation but all her efforts went in vain.

“Their response to the emergency was pathetic. My co-passenger died as he faced an issue of lack of oxygen and due to the delay in response he had a cardiac attack. It happened due to the negligence of the Jet staff since they failed to provide basic and initial medical support,” said Bhardwaj.

She also confirmed, “Cabin member Balpreet further chided Ahmad and his family members for not taking blood pressure medicines, rather than providing him with oxygen and medical support. Later, a doctor on the flight tried to save Ahmad but it was too late,” said Bhardwaj, who is a trained professional and can handle emergency situations.

“I could see the Jet staff was not trained to handle a medical emergency and were ill-equipped for providing basis medical support,” she said. Ahmad, the only earning member of his family, is the native of Begusarai district of Bihar and he was travelling with his sister, niece and Alam. “We reached Patna by road and he was hale and hearty. There was no medical emergency till we boarded the Mumbai-bound Jet Airways flight,” added Alam.

After the flight touched down in Mumbai, Ahmad’s family had to wait for 30 minutes for the arrival of a doctor before they could take his body home. “They (the doctors) came and declared him dead,” said Alam.

Later, Ahmed’s body was taken to RN Cooper hospital where a post mortem examination was conducted.