PHUKET: A flight bound from Singapore to Delhi was diverted to Phuket yesterday in a dramatic attempt to save the life of a critically ill passenger.
The passenger, a man of Indian descent living in Singapore, took ill soon after the Indigo Airlines flight left Singapore late yesterday.
Flight attendants attempted to revive the man in a mid-air life-and-death drama as the pilot called for clearance to make an emergency landing at Phuket about 6.30pm.
With permission given and an ambulance and medical team on stand-by, the Indigo flight descended to Phuket International Airport.
However, the man, aged 70, died in the air before touchdown, or soon afterwards. His travelling companion, a 37-year-old woman, left the flight in Phuket.
The journey to Delhi resumed soon afterwards for the other passengers.
The man's body is at Thalang Hospital in central Phuket while arrangements are made for repatriation.
If the death had occurred further into the flight over the Indian Ocean, the flight would have continued with the man's body placed in an out-of-the way seat normally used by the flight attendants.
The passenger, a man of Indian descent living in Singapore, took ill soon after the Indigo Airlines flight left Singapore late yesterday.
Flight attendants attempted to revive the man in a mid-air life-and-death drama as the pilot called for clearance to make an emergency landing at Phuket about 6.30pm.
With permission given and an ambulance and medical team on stand-by, the Indigo flight descended to Phuket International Airport.
However, the man, aged 70, died in the air before touchdown, or soon afterwards. His travelling companion, a 37-year-old woman, left the flight in Phuket.
The journey to Delhi resumed soon afterwards for the other passengers.
The man's body is at Thalang Hospital in central Phuket while arrangements are made for repatriation.
If the death had occurred further into the flight over the Indian Ocean, the flight would have continued with the man's body placed in an out-of-the way seat normally used by the flight attendants.
