An Australian man’s holiday to Italy got off to a traumatic start after he was forced to sit next to the body of a dead passenger for four hours.

Mitchell Ring and his partner, Jennifer Colin, were on a Qatar Airways flight from Melbourne to Doha, en route to Venice, when a woman walked out of the toilet and collapsed near their row about ten hours into the journey.

They described the “wonderful” staff members who attempted to revive the lady in the aisle “right beside” Ring, telling Australia’s Channel 9 that the cabin crew had responded “in no time”.

“Unfortunately the lady couldn’t be saved, which was pretty heartbreaking to watch,” Ring said.

“They tried to wheel her up towards business class, but she