An Iraqi Airways flight en route from Baghdad to Guangzhou made an emergency landing at Kolkata’s Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport after a 16-year-old passenger fell critically ill. The girl, identified as Deran Samir Ahmed from Baghdad, was declared “brought dead” at a local hospital.
The flight IA-473, carrying 100 passengers and 15 crew members, diverted its course and landed in Kolkata at 10:18 p.m. on Wednesday. A medical team at the airport attended to the teenager, but she showed no signs of life. Despite immediate medical intervention, the airport health officer found no pulse or heartbeat and referred her to a hospital.
The passenger and her two co-travelers were offloaded and taken to a private hospital, where doctors confirmed her death. The police have registered a case of unnatural death based on the hospital’s report.
The girl’s body was taken for post-mortem, and the Iraqi Embassy in Delhi has been notified. The family will be allowed to take the body home once formalities are completed. Communication with her relatives, who were on the flight, was challenging due to a language barrier.
The flight resumed its journey to Guangzhou at 1:49 a.m. on Thursday.
