3 Passengers Die On Flights From Miami To London

local6.com ^ | Jan. 19, 2004 | n/a

[EggsAckley]

LONDON -- A 19-year-old British woman died Monday on board a Virgin Atlantic flight from Miami to London's Heathrow Airport, the airline said.

A day earlier, two passengers on a British Airways flight from Miami to Heathrow died, including one from suspected viral meningitis.

The Virgin Atlantic passenger, who was not identified, died on flight VS006 shortly before landing, a spokeswoman for the carrier said. She said crew had tried to revive her and a doctor had come forward to help, but the woman was pronounced dead on arrival at Heathrow, west of London.

Police said the cause of death was unknown but added that an autopsy would be performed.

On Sunday, a female passenger fell ill on British Airways flight BA208 from Miami to Heathrow and the aircraft was diverted to Nova Scotia, Canada, so she could receive emergency treatment, a spokeswoman for BA said. The woman died but it was unclear whether she died in the hospital or on the aircraft, she said.

A male passenger became ill after the flight resumed and died shortly before arriving at Heathrow, the spokeswoman said. She did not give either passenger's age or nationality or the suspected cause of death, but said the deaths weren't linked.

Hillingdon Borough, which oversees the Health Control Unit at Heathrow, said the male BA passenger was British and died of suspected viral meningitis. A spokesman for the local authority, Ian Macey, said he believed the female BA passenger had suffered a heart attack.

Macey said health authorities would inform all passengers on the BA flight of the dead man's autopsy results, although he stressed that viral meningitis is only contagious in very close contact.

He did not have information on the death of the Virgin Atlantic passenger.

Meningitis involves inflammation of the tissues that cover the brain and spinal cord. It can be caused by a virus, bacteria or fungus.

Viral meningitis, which can be caused by many different viruses, is debilitating but rarely fatal in people with normal immune systems. Usually, the symptoms last from 7 to 10 days and the person recovers completely.

[thedilg]

[Well, I don't think FReepers are posting at 35,000 feet.]

The cockpits are pressurized. The altitude is more like 5,000 feet

Godspeed, The Dilg

[txhurl]

This is pretty bizarre.

[cyncooper]

The woman who died on the Virgin Atlantic flight will likely have died from that pulmonary condition that causes blood to pool in the legs when one sits for a long period of time, causing a blood clot.

A reminder for those of us planted in chairs in front of our computers to get up to stretch!

[txhurl]

One for your mystery collection.

[SICSEMPERTYRANNUS]

Deep Vein Thrombosis?

[mware]

The woman who died on the Virgin Atlantic flight will likely have died from that pulmonary condition that causes blood to pool in the legs when one sits for a long period of time, causing a blood clot.

If I am not mistaken this happen to one of the reporters in Iraq. He was cramped up in some vehicle for quite a few hours.

[cyncooper]

David Bloom...May he rest in peace.

[backhoe]

One for your mystery collection.

Yep, I'll add it to these:

-Strange new disease outbreaks--

[txhurl]

I wonder if these three people were in the same hotel or restaurant or same cruise in Miami.

[RinaseaofDs]

I think when they do the autopsy they'll find she died of myocardial inflammation, and not a congestive heart failure.

This is a head fake, in my opinion. Three dots draw a curve, but two, only a line. To represent the heart attack as such isn't lying, but it isn't talking about what might have caused it.

Meningitis is an inflammatory condition, so is a myocardial infarction.

Right? (Is there a doctor in the house?)

This is going to be big news in a few hours, in my opinion.

[verity]

Death is one of life's consequences.

[sinkspur]

If I am not mistaken this happen to one of the reporters in Iraq. He was cramped up in some vehicle for quite a few hours.

David Gregory. And another poster has given it its proper name: Deep Vein Thrombosis.

[F16Fighter]

"I am missing one statement: 'terrorism was ruled out...'"

LOL

[tdadams]

I wonder if those people ate the fish?

[skr]

I know they say this is a problem, but if it were true, Freepers would be droppping dead at the keyboard every day.

Except we don't have airline attendants to walk to the kitchen to get a snack for us. : )

[missyme]

Or you can do a excercise from your chair where you put your legs straight out and SKAKE-EM! up a storm, get that blood movin!

People come out with the whackiest comments especially FREEPERS!

[conservative cat]

Except we don't have airline attendants to walk to the kitchen to get a snack for us. : )

True, but I keep trying to train the kids!

[tgslTakoma]

Well, I don't think FReepers are posting at 35,000 feet.

It's not the altitude that can cause deep vein thrombosis (DVT), but the inactivity such as when a person sits for long periods of time without moving one's legs about. Sometimes people who stand for long periods can also get DVTs.

Your heart pumps the blood through the arteries to its destination, but the return trip through the veins is different. You have these one-way valves (for lack of a better descriptor) in your leg veins that allow the blood to be pushed back towards your heart (by the movement of your legs). If you don't move the legs about, the blood just kind of hangs around in one place, sometimes forming clots within the veins. If the clot moves up into your lungs you could have a big problem.

Stretch your legs, wiggle your feet and toes, keep that blood moving...

Same thing can happen with the arm veins, but it's not as common.

[countrydummy]

bump

[RinaseaofDs]

I have just done an exhaustive search on Reuters, all UK dailies, AP Breaking, Reuters, Fox, the alphabet networks, and the BBC.

Nothing.

This was filed by the local Florida Channel 6 WKMG at 1004, and it was picked up by AP by copyright.

It was updated at 1045 EDT.

On AP Breaking it was never listed, not the initial or reposted report.

Considering that there is an entire aircraft full of people that watched two day today, you'd think that there would be something on the news somewhere else.

This is very strange.