Couple forced to sit next to dead body on airline flight to Italy

After a passenger died midway through a Qatar Airways flight, an Australian couple was forced to sit next to the corpse for the remainder of the trip.

Mitchell Ring and Jennifer Colin were on their way to Venice, Italy, from Melbourne when a woman onboard their flight walked out of the bathroom, “collapsed” next to their row and died, they told the Australian news program “A Current Affair.”

“Unfortunately the lady couldn’t be saved, which was pretty heartbreaking to watch,” Ring said. “They tried to wheel her up towards business class, but she was quite a large lady and they couldn’t get her through the aisle.”

Initially, when the couple had learned of two extra seats in their row of four, they thought they lucked out for the long-haul flight, which can take up to a whole 24 hours. Their luck quickly changed.

The crew decided to put the dead passenger’s body in Ring and Colin’s row for the remaining four hours of the flight.

“They looked a bit frustrated, then they just looked at me and saw seats were available beside me, my wife was on the other side, we were in a row of four,” Ring told the Australian outlet. “They said, ‘Can you move over please?’ and I just said, ‘Yes no problem’. Then they placed the lady in the chair I was in.”

The couple said the crew told them they would have to remain in their seats next to the body for the four hours left of the flight, People reported, despite there being a few other spare seats around them.

Ring and Colin were told to remain in their seats after the plane landed as medical crews took off blankets covering the body, “A Current Affair” reported.

“I can’t believe they told us to stay … it wasn’t nice,” Ring said.

The couple — who said the incident traumatized them — said they have not received support or an offer of counseling, People said.

“They have a duty of care towards their customers as well as their staff, we should be contacted to make sure — do you need some support, do you need some counseling?” Ring told “A Current Affair.” “I don’t really know how I feel and would like to speak to somebody to make sure I’m all right.”

The couple booked their flight through Australian airline Qantas, according to People.

“The process for handling incidents onboard an aircraft like this is managed by the operating airline, which in this case is Qatar Airways,” a Qantas spokesperson told People.

A Qatar Airways spokesperson sent a statement to multiple outlets: “First and foremost our thoughts are with the family of the passenger who sadly passed away on board our flight,” according to People.

“We apologize for any inconvenience or distress this incident may have caused,” the Qatar spokesperson said, “and are in the process of contacting passengers in line with our policies and procedures.”