Believed To Have Died From Natural Causes

Flight attendants onboard an early-morning Delta Air Lines flight inbound to Atlanta made a chilling discovery -- the body of a 61-year-old woman in one of the plane's lavatories.

Flight 950 was on approach to Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport when the body was discovered during a routine check of the lavs prior to landing, reports 750 WSB. The woman was unresponsive to resuscitation efforts, and a doctor onboard pronounced her dead.

Atlanta Police retrieved the body after the Boeing 767 landed just before 6 am, and took it to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Crime Lab for an autopsy. Officials says they have no reason to believe the woman died from anything but natural causes.

ATL spokesman Herschel Grangent told The Los Angeles Times passenger deaths "happen from time to time" onboard commercial airliners. Since individual carriers notify the authorities in most cases, the airport doesn't keep track of how many such incidents occur.

"It's more of an airline issue and we don't track it," Grangent said

Police spokesman Eric Schwartz told WSB officers stationed at ATL generally respond to calls about dead bodies a couple times per year.

The woman's name hasn't been released.

FMI: www.delta.com, www.atlanta-airport.com