[imagesource:flickr]
In a scene fit for a horror movie, a man died after coughing up “litres of blood” on board a flight from Bangkok to Munich just recently.
According to witnesses, the German national said to be aged 63, looked ill as soon as he and his wife boarded the Lufthansa plane on Thursday.
The man was visibly sick, with “cold sweats” and “breathing much too quickly,” Karin Missfelder, who is a nursing specialist at University Hospital in Zurich, recounted to Swiss German outlet Blick. However, his partner told the crew he was safe to fly and tired after running to catch the flight, reports claim.
But after watching the man for a few moments, Missfelder noted that his condition was rapidly deteriorating and said she informed a flight attendant that he needed to be examined by a doctor.
Sky News reports that soon after take-off he began spitting blood into a bag, before it began gushing out of his mouth and nose.
He told Swiss news outlet Blick: “It was absolute horror, everyone was screaming.”
Mr Missfelder said the man lost “litres of blood” and the walls of the plane were splattered.
Before this horrendous situation escalated, a young Polish man answered the call for a doctor, per The New York Post, but he reportedly only asked the man how he was feeling, felt his pulse and said he was okay.
“They gave him a little chamomile tea, but he already spit blood into the bag that his wife held out to him,” said Missfelder’s husband, Martin.
Soon, blood started spewing from his mouth and nose. For about half an hour afterwards, flight attendants tried to perform CPR – even as the nurse said she knew it was hopeless.
When he finally went still and the captain announced the man’s death, “it was dead quiet on board,” she said.
Staff carried the man to the galley of the plane, while the Airbus A380 turned around and returned to Thailand’s capital after just an hour and a half into the 12-hour journey. Missfelder told Blick there was “chaos” when the plane landed.
He added the worst thing was seeing the wife of the dead man going through customs all alone while “enduring all the formalities”.
A Lufthansa spokesperson confirmed in a statement that “although immediate and comprehensive first aid measures were taken by the crew and a doctor on board, the passenger died during the flight”.
“Our thoughts are with the relatives of the deceased passenger. We also regret the inconvenience caused to the passengers of this flight,” the spokesperson said.
The passengers said they had to wait two hours without any guidance from Lufthansa before they were finally booked on another flight to Germany.
Hey Guys - thought I’d just give a quick reach-around and say a big thank you to our rea...
[imagesource:CapeRacing] For a unique breakfast experience combining the thrill of hors...
[imagesource:howler] If you're still stumped about what to do to ring in the new year -...
[imagesource:maxandeli/facebook] It's not just in corporate that staff parties get a li...
[imagesource:here] Imagine being born with the weight of your parents’ version of per...