Couple forced to sit next to dead passenger on international flight

A couple has recalled the distressing moment they were forced to sit next to a dead passenger on an international flight. 

Mitchell Ring and Jennifer Colin were en route from Melbourne to Venice with Qatar Airlines, via the city of Doha, when a female passenger died mid-flight. 

The crew decided to put the dead passenger's body in Ring and Colin's row for the remaining four hours of the flight, which the couple said left them traumatised.

The incident unfolded when a woman walked out of the bathroom and collapsed next to their row.

"Unfortunately the lady couldn't be saved, which was pretty heartbreaking to watch," Ring told A Current Affair.

"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."

"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."

"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."

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The couple claims cabin crew did not offer them a different seat to move to, with a passenger in the row behind them instead offering a spare seat to nervous-flyer Colin.

"There were a few spare seats I could see around us," Ring said.

Ring spent the remaining hours of the flight in the same row as the corpse, saying he was told to stay seated after the plane landed as medical crews took off blankets covering the body.

"I can't believe they told us to stay … it wasn't nice," he said.

The couple said they have not been offered any support from Qatar Airways, with Ring saying, "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 counselling."

"I don't really know how I feel and would like to speak to somebody to make sure I'm alright."

Colin said the pair was now trying to make the best of their Italian holiday of a lifetime after the disturbing flight. 

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"I'm trying to make the best of a pretty hard situation, but, you know, we're on holidays so we're really trying to have a good time," she said.

Since A Current Affair spoke to the couple, Qatar Airways says it is looking into the situation.

Image credits: A Current Affair