A dead body was reportedly held on a British Airways flight for over 13 hours as pilots continued to fly from Hong Kong to London.
A woman is her 60s is said to have died shortly after taking off from the Chinese city, but instead of turning around the flight continued its journey to the UK on Sunday (March 15).
By the time the plane was reaching its final destination, passengers onboard the Airbus A350-1000 were allegedly starting to complain about a foul smell on the aircraft.
A source shared: "Obviously the family with the woman were distraught, and so were the crew.
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“Many wanted to return to Hong Kong. But, to put it bluntly, if a passenger has already died, that is not viewed as an emergency."
They went on to tell The Sun: "A discussion was had about what to do with the body — with the flightdeck’s request to lock it in a toilet rejected by crew.
"So they had to isolate the body, wrap it in materials, and move it to a galley at the rear of the plane.
"The galley had a heated floor, which some crew had overlooked, and towards the end of the flight there were claims that a foul smell was present in that region."
Police are said to have been waiting on the tarmac for the plane once it arrived at Heathrow. The other 300 plus passengers reportedly had to stay in their seats for 45 minutes after landing as investigations took place.
British Airways has since confirmed that one of its passengers recently passed away while onboard.
"A customer sadly passed away on board and our thoughts are with their family and friends at this difficult time," a spokesperson told UNILAD, adding: "We are supporting our crew and all procedures were correctly followed."
While it's rare, it's not unheard of for people to sadly pass away during a flight and Mandy Smith, a former flight attendant for Virgin Atlantic, revealed what happens if somebody dies onboard.
Speaking to LADbible for its Honesty Box YouTube series, Smith shared: "This has not happened to me, thankfully. It has happened to a friend of mine, where they've had a passenger pass away on the flight.
"We used to have to put passengers in the bathrooms, and then lock the bathrooms off."
However, there was a problem with keeping corpses in the bathroom...
"Because they would be seated on the toilet, as they sat there – if rigor mortis set in – then they would be then stuck in that position, and they wouldn't be able to fit in their coffin," Smith explained.
"Unfortunately, now, we have to lay them across the front of the seats and try and calm their loved ones down."
If you have experienced a bereavement and would like to speak with someone in confidence, contact GrieveWell on (734) 975-0238, or email [email protected].
Niamh Shackleton