Six-month-old boy coming from Australia dies on flight
CHENNAI: A six-month-old baby, who was travelling with his parents and grandmother from Australia to Chennai, died on-board the flight in the wee hours of Thursday. The exact cause of death would be known only after the post-mortem examination, police said.
The boy, Hrithik, was born in Australia to Shakthi Murugan from Vengaivasal in Selaiyur and Geetha. Both were working as techies in Australia, but she had quit her job after Hrithik was born. This was their first trip to India after the boy was born.
On Wednesday morning, they boarded a flight from Melbourne to Kuala Lumpur, from where they took the flight to Chennai. Geetha’s mother Brito Queen was also with them. The flight landed at 1 am, and after completing the immigration formalities, they headed to the Customs check.
When Geetha tried to wake up the sleeping baby, there was no response. That was when she noted that his body was very cold. They alerted the airport officials and the baby was rushed to the private hospital inside airport. The doctor who checked him said he had died about two hours prior to that.
Airport police said Geetha had fed the baby while they were at the Kuala Lumpur airport. After playing for a while, the child went to sleep. The baby was very healthy and had no problems with health, the family told police.
Initially, they did not agree to let the police take the child’s body for post-mortem examination. Later, the police and airport officials convinced them and the body was taken for autopsy in their car.
Police inquired with the airline staff, who said there was nothing wrong with the flight and pointed out that there were a few other children on-board the same flight. Police said the exact reason for the death would be known only after getting the detailed post-mortem examination report.