An Australian couple was made to sit next to a corpse aboard a Qatar Airways flight last week.
A passenger had died mid-air on the 14-hour-long flight from Melbourne to Doha, after which the crew made the blanket-draped corpse sit next to the couple.
“They tried to wheel her up towards business class, but she was quite a large lady and they couldn’t get her through the aisle,” passenger Mitchell Ring told Australian network Nine News.
Ring agreed to shift seats when requested but was shocked to remain next to the corpse for about four hours. “They looked frustrated and then saw seats available beside me,” he said. Despite visible empty seats, the couple was not relocated, Ring said.
Even after landing, Ring had to sit next to the body until ambulance and police officers arrived. “The officers removed the blankets, and it wasn’t a pleasant sight,” he said.
His wife added, “I’m not a great flyer at the best of times. There should be a protocol to handle such situations better.”
Qatar Airways later issued a statement apologising “for any inconvenience or distress this incident may have caused.” They expressed their condolences to the family of the deceased passenger.