The man lost liters of blood, some of which splattered the walls of the plane. (Representative pic)
A 63-year-old man onboard a Lufthansa flight from Thailand to Germany died Thursday after gushing out “litres of blood” from his mouth and nose. According to the New York Post, the German man, whose name hasn’t been revealed, died in front of his wife after getting on the flight to Munich shortly before midnight. He was seen boarding the plane in Bangkok visibly sick, with “cold sweats” and “breathing much too quickly,” a passenger on board the same flight recalled.
“It was absolute horror, everyone was screaming,” Karin Missfelder, who was also on the plane, said, as per the Post. She recalled that the 63-year-old had got on with “cold sweats” and was “breathing much too quickly” before his fellow passengers rushed to help him, taking his pulse and offering him tea. The passenger said that the man lost litres of blood and the walls of the jet were also covered in red splatters.
For about half an hour, flight attendants tried to perform CPR, however, Ms Missfelder said that it was clear that the man could not be saved. When he finally went still and the captain announced the man’s death, “it was dead quiet on board,” she said.
According to the Metro, the man’s body was carried into the gallery of the plane as it turned and headed back to Thailand. Ms Missfelder said “the worst thing” was that the man’s wife had to go through customs alone. “She stood there all alone and apathetic and had to endure all the formalities,” she added.
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Ms Missfelder also said she regrets that she did not try to help.”I should have intervened, but I saw that a doctor was looking after him, so I didn’t want to get involved,” she said, noting that “the man looked so bad, I don’t understand why the captain took off.”
In a statement to the Post, a Lufthansa spokesperson confirmed the incident. “Although immediate and comprehensive first aid measures were taken by the crew and a doctor on board, the passenger died during the flight,” the spokesperson said. “Our thoughts are with the relatives of the deceased passenger. We also regret the inconvenience caused to the passengers of this flight,” they added.
Meanwhile, the flight data showed that it left Bangkok at 11:50 pm Thursday and landed back in Thailand at 8:28 am Friday. The passengers reportedly said that they had to wait two hours without any guidance from the airlines before they were finally booked on another flight to Germany, with a stopover in Hong Kong.