Uproar on a Malaga to London flight with a deceased elderly woman: passengers believe she was boarded dead

There was commotion among the passengers of an EasyJet flight departing from Malaga Airport to London - specifically to Gatwick Airport - due to an elderly woman who "seemed dead" when she boarded. According to testimonies from tourists on board the aircraft consulted by SUR, the deceased's family, who "even held her head," allegedly claimed she was just tired and brought her onto the plane in a wheelchair. However, before takeoff, the crew alerted that the elderly woman had passed away. The airline has confirmed that she had a medical certificate allowing her to fly and that she died on the plane.

The incident occurred on December 18, on the flight scheduled to depart at ten-thirty in the morning from the capital of Malaga. Civil Guard officers and forensic professionals arrived at the terminal and certified the woman's death. Consequently, the flight was delayed by eleven hours and fifteen minutes, as verified by this newspaper.

Passenger Testimony

"We all boarded and the last person to get on was the lady with a couple more people," Petra Boddington, one of the passengers, explains in a conversation with SUR. "She was in an aisle seat and slumped over. Everyone said the same thing 'she looked dead, should she be on board?'. The plane began to move down the runway and then the captain came on and said he had to turn around due to a medical emergency. We all knew it was the poor lady, clearly she was not well enough to fly," she recounts.

As reported by the British media Daily Mail, the plane had started to move down the runway prepared for takeoff when it stopped and returned to the terminal. Boddington says they disembarked everyone and they were all wondering "why had they let her board". In her opinion, she says, "they shouldn't have done it".

Airline Statement

EasyJet has issued a statement assuring that "she was allowed to fly because she had a medical certificate that enabled her to travel by plane and she was accompanied by medical personnel during the journey." "It was only after boarding that she required medical assistance and, unfortunately, she passed away," they say.

In this regard, they have asked their customers for "understanding in these circumstances" and have expressed that their "thoughts are with the family and friends of the passenger who sadly passed away," to whom they have offered "support and assistance in these very difficult times."

It is also worth noting that the deceased had to pass through security and passport controls - the latter carried out by officers of the National Police Corps - to reach the boarding gate.