Qatar Airways released a statement on Friday addressing an Australian man’s claims of being forced to sit next to a passenger who had died midway through a flight from Melbourne, Australia, to Doha, Qatar, for the remainder of the trip.
Couple Mitchell Ring and Jennifer Colin shared their story earlier this week withAustralian news program “A Current Affair.” They claimed that Ring had to sit next to the body of a woman who had collapsed in the middle of the aisle and died 10 hours into a 14-hour flight.
Ring told the outlet that crew members attempted to wheel the deceased woman up toward business class but couldn’t get her through the aisle.
“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,” Ring told the outlet.
Ring said crew members then placed the deceased woman’s body in their row and that his wife was able to move to a single seat available in the row behind them. Ring, however, had to stay in the same row as the deceased passenger.
Ring said crew members instructed him to remain there for the remaining four hours of the flight.
In a statement shared with HuffPost on Friday, Qatar Airways said it completed an internal review of the incident and found “cabin crew acted quickly, appropriately and professionally at all times in line with training and industry standard practice.”
“Passengers were accommodated to other seats, and a crew member was sitting at all times with the deceased passenger for the duration of the flight until landing in Doha,” the statement read.
The airline said it “deeply” sympathizes “with all those involved in this sad situation” and that the company’s “thoughts remain with the family members of the passenger who passed away on board” the flight.
“It is an unfortunate reality that unexpected deaths do sometimes occur on board aircraft across the aviation industry and our crew are highly trained to deal with these situations with as much respect and dignity as possible,” the statement read.
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Ring and Colin told “A Current Affair” they have not been offered any support from the luxury airline, but Qatar Airways stated in its release that it has “been in direct contact with the family of the deceased as well as other passengers who were directly affected by this difficult situation and have offered emotional support and compensation.”
The airline did not immediately respond to HuffPost when asked what specific compensation it had offered passengers.