.jpg)
3 hours ago
9 A trip of a lifetime turned into a scarring nightmare for one couple after they had to sit next to the body of another passenger who died during their flight.
Speaking to the Australian news program A Current Affair on Monday, Mitchell Ring and Jennifer Colin said they were on the way to Venice, Italy, for vacation this month when a tragedy happened. During their Qatar Airways flight from Melbourne, Australia, to Doha, the capital of Qatar, a woman walked out of the bathroom and suddenly “collapsed” in the aisle. Flight attendants sprang into action and tried to revive her, but their efforts were unsuccessful. She died. Awful.
Related: Flight Attendant Repeatedly Punches Passenger For Pulling Woman’s Hair In Shocking Video!
The whole thing happened right in front of the pair, which was already traumatizing and “heartbreaking” enough for them. But what happened next made the situation a million times worse. According to Mitchell, the flight attendants “tried to wheel her up towards business class, but she was quite a large lady, and they couldn’t get her through the aisle.” He continued:
“They looked a bit frustrated, then they just looked at me and saw seats were available beside me, my wife was on the other side, we were in a row of four. They said, ‘Can you move over please?’ and I just said, ‘Yes, no problem.’”
WHY DID HE SAY YES?? Because Mitchell never expected them to do what they did next! The cabin crew put the woman’s body in the chair he had been sitting in! That meant he and Jennifer were right next to her remains! What?!
People complain when someone has their shoes off on a flight — you think they want to spend hundreds of dollars for a seat in a flying morgue??
Jennifer and Mitchell weren’t even allowed to move to a different row — even though there were empty seats on the flight! The couple claimed the attendants told them to stay in their seats next to her for the remaining four hours of the trip! Mitchell alleged:
“There were a few spare seats I could see around us. I can’t believe they told us to stay … it wasn’t nice.”
OMG! But just wait! There’s more!
Once the plane landed, the two were then forced to remain in their seats while medical staff came on board and removed the blankets that were covering the corpse! All while the couple were stuck next to it! What the f**k.
Why couldn’t the staffers move the couple so the deceased passenger had her own row? It wasn’t like this was a full flight. Plus, why not wait until the woman was off the flight and somewhere out of public view before taking off the blankets? Or even just wait until Mitchell, Jennifer, and the rest of the passengers were gone? Not only would these actions have been the kind thing to do for the couple, who were already in shock over witnessing the death of another human being, but respectful to the woman who just died. Like, come on. There was totally a better way to deal with this situation.
As you can imagine, this has been traumatic for Mitchell and Jennifer. He said they had not received any offer of support or counseling from the airline after the flight:
“They have a duty of care towards their customers as well as their staff, we should be contacted to make sure — do you need some support, do you need some counseling? I don’t really know how I feel and would like to speak to somebody to make sure I’m alright.”
Following this experience, it’s understandable why Mitchell would like to talk to someone. It’s a lot. It’s a situation no one ever expects to be in. So hopefully, he and Jennifer can get some counseling soon to process what happened. For now, the two are just trying their best to enjoy their vacation in Venice. Jennifer said:
“I’m trying to make the best of a pretty hard situation, but, you know, we’re on holiday so we’re really trying to have a good time.”
Our hearts break for Mitchell and Jennifer, as well as the loved ones of the woman who passed away. This is just such a tragedy. We wish things were handled better. Qantas, the Australian airline the couple booked their flight through, told People on Tuesday following the incident:
“The process for handling incidents onboard an aircraft like this is managed by the operating airline, which in this case is Qatar Airways. Colin made us aware of the incident on a Qatar Airways flight via email on Saturday afternoon [Feb. 22].”
The company noted they are in communication with Mitchell and Jennifer and followed up with Qatar Airways. Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Qatar Airways stated to multiple outlets:
“First and foremost our thoughts are with the family of the passenger who sadly passed away on board our flight. We apologize for any inconvenience or distress this incident may have caused and are in the process of contacting passengers in line with our policies and procedures.”
Just a terrible incident… Watch the emotional interview with Mitchell and Jennifer (below):
Reactions, Perezcious readers? Sound OFF in the comments.
[Image via A Current Affair/YouTube]
