A Turkish Airlines passenger died during their international flight to California — and officials can’t explain where the body is located.
The passenger was onboard a flight out of Istanbul heading to San Francisco on July 13 when they “suffered a severe medical emergency,” according to the aviation blog Aviation A2Z.
The crew was preparing to divert the plane to Keflavik Airport in Iceland after the passenger died midair.
However, they ultimately decided to continue flying toward North America rather than divert outside US airspace.
The urgency to make an emergency landing decreases after a passenger dies, allowing the crew to find an airport that is better equipped to handle the situation, according to the outlet.
“Upon entering the airspace over the United States, the crew opted to land at CHICAGO O’HARE (ORD), a major international hub capable of handling emergency landings with adequate medical support and facilities,” Aviation A2Z reported.
The cause of the passenger’s medical emergency remains unknown.
Upon landing at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, the body was removed from the aircraft.
At this point, responsibility should have shifted to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office.
However, medical examiner spokesperson Natalia Derevyanny told SFGATE that they have no record of a body being brought to them from the flight, nor does the office have any cases that would match the description of the incident.
Turkish Airlines station manager Ertugrul Gulsen confirmed the diversion to Chicago O’Hare and added that the passenger’s remains were later placed on a separate flight to San Francisco, but did not elaborate further.
The location of the passenger’s body is still unknown.
The Post has reached out to Turkish Airlines for comment.
Medical emergencies occur on approximately 1 in every 600 flights, or 16 per million passengers, according to the CDC.
About 3 out of every 1,000 incidents are fatal. While medical emergencies are not rare, in-flight deaths are less frequent.
A study published in The American Journal of Emergency Medicine in 2021 on in-flight emergencies also found that “death onboard a commercial aircraft is actually quite rare.”
Nearly all in-flight deaths unrelated to crashes are due to cardiac arrest, often from heart conditions worsened by flight stresses like low oxygen and immobility.
In March, an EasyJet passenger went into a suspected cardiac arrest and died while aboard a flight from Spain to England.
Three passengers, including a nurse, on the budget airline traveling from Tenerife to Liverpool John Lennon Airport sprang into action and tried to revive the 67-year-old woman who collapsed shortly after takeoff on March 25 by performing CPR.
However, she died before the plane touched down at Santiago-Rosalía de Castro Airport.
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