Passenger dies onboard plane diverted to the Canary Islands

A passenger onboard a flight from Dakar, in Senegal, heading to Brussels, has died at Gran Canaria airport despite attempts by the cabin crew to save his life.

The pilot of the Brussels Airlines plane, requested permission from air traffic control to make an emergency landing in the Canary Islands after verifying that one of their passengers was unwell.

Once the situation was reported, controllers activated the protocol to shorten the route as much as possible and gave permission to land at Gran Canaria airport, but unfortunately their efforts were in vain.

Despite trying to resuscitate the man whilst in the air, cabin crew were not able to, and when paramedics boarded the plane as soon as it had landed, they could only confirm the man’s death by suspected cardiac arrest.

Airport police took charge of the body so that the relevant protocols could be actionned and the flight could continue on its journey.