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Louise Thomas

Editor

A woman has died onboard a Virgin Australia flight after collapsing in front of horrified passengers and crew this morning (29 July).

The medical emergency occurred at around 9.30am and cabin crew and medical experts administered CPR on the passenger until the aircraft could make a priority landing at Tullamarine Airport in Melbourne at 10.15am.

Flight VA308 from Brisbane to Melbourne was met by emergency crews and paramedics on the runway.

The airline confirmed that after being removed from the aircraft, the passenger “unfortunately later passed away”.

A coroner’s inquiry will take place, but the unnamed woman’s death is not being treated as suspicious.

A Virgin Australia spokesperson said: “Virgin Australia can confirm a medical emergency on board flight VA308 travelling from Brisbane to Melbourne this morning.

“Medical experts onboard assisted cabin crew before paramedics met the aircraft in Melbourne.

“The passenger was taken off the aircraft but unfortunately later passed away.”

It’s not the first mid-flight passenger death to occur this year.

In June, an eight-year-old girl died on a SkyWest Airlines flight to Chicago after she suddenly became ill and unresponsive – despite medics’ “aggressive resuscitative efforts” upon landing.

Sydney Weston, from Carl Junction, Missouri, was flying with her family from Joplin when she suffered a medical emergency, which saw her flight rerouted to land in Peoria, Illinois.

“Upon landing in Peoria, she was not breathing and had no pulse,” the coroner’s office said.

A passenger also died on a Jet2 plane in January, forcing the flight to divert.

The man is said to have been found dead inside the toilet after fellow travellers noticed the door had been locked for a while and alerted staff.

The flight, which was supposed to travel from Tenerife to Manchester, was forced to land in Cork, Ireland instead.

For more travel news and advice, listen to Simon Calder’s podcast

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