Carrier Claims Incidents Were Unrelated

A British Airways (BA) flight from Miami to London was the scene of two unrelated deaths, which caused the diversion of the aircraft on its way to London's Heathrow airport. BA flight 208 was heavily delayed after a female passenger suffered what appeared to be a fatal heart attack, prompting an unscheduled stop in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Unfortunately, paramedics were unable to save her. After the flight had resumed, crew members were forced to deal with another death, this time in the rear of the aircraft, as a male traveler passed away of suspected meningitis. Witnesses said the rear portion of the plane was curtained off before other passengers learned of the male passenger's death.

Upon arriving at London, the 330 passengers were detained for more than an hour by medical authorities, which questioned those who had been seated near the man. These travelers were given written information about meningitis before disembarking. Others were simply were verbally warned by the captain and told to watch for symptoms over the next 21 days.

Despite the on-board announcements about the deaths, British Airways refused to speculate about the causes, saying only that they appeared to be natural. "Unfortunately we do have a number of deaths on board, although they don't happen very often" said a company spokesperson. It's very unfortunate that two occurred on the same flight. That's incredibly rare ... They were not related."

FMI: www.britishairways.com