Cabin doors ‘take priority over girl in cardiac arrest’

AIRLINE staff failed to use a defibrillator to revive a teenage passenger who suffered a fatal allergic reaction to a Pret A Manger sandwich because landing the aircraft took priority, they told her inquest yesterday.

Natasha Ednan-laperouse, 15, had collapsed on a British Airways flight from London to Nice in July 2016.

She had been on her way to France with her father and best friend when she bought an artichoke, olive and tapenade baguette as they passed through Heathrow Airport’s Terminal 5. West London coroner’s court heard the teenager, from Fulham, west London, had not realised the bread contained sesame seeds, which she was allergic to.

The allergen was not labelled on the packaging.

Her father, Nadim, the millionaire founder of WOW Toys, administered two Epipen injections of adrenalin but the symptoms did not abate mid-flight and Natasha went into cardiac arrest as her throat tightened. British Airways cabin crew were yesterday questioned over their response after the inquest heard that the on-board defibrillator was not used in-flight.

Mario Ballestri, who helped passenger Thomas Pearson-jones, a junior doctor, as he performed CPR on Natasha, said it would have been too dangerous to get the device from the other end of the aircraft when she went into cardiac arrest minutes before landing.

John Harris, head of cabin crew, also explained that during landing, it is a formal requirement of his training to ensure other crew are in position on landing, so they could get passengers off the aircraft in case of an emergency. In this instance, the four spare cabin crew staff were covering four sets of emergency exit doors.

Natasha’s mother, Tanya, wept in court and was comforted by other family members as Mr Harris said: “Without sounding harsh, the coverage of doors takes priority.”

He added: “There were only five cabin crew on that particular flight and the aircraft had four sets of doors, totalling eight doors, and one cabin crew member was out of action.

“So we literally had the minimum number of crew to cover those doors.”

The inquest heard that a defibrillator was used on Natasha after landing when Nice paramedics arrived.

She was later declared dead in hospital in Nice.

The inquest is due to continue until tomorrow.