Three passengers risked catching the coronavirus themselves and performed the life-saving emergency procedures on a man who died from the virus aboard a flight in the United States (US).
According to the details, the man who tested positive for COVID-19 reportedly lied at check-in when asked if he had any coronavirus symptoms at the Orlando airport. He was traveling from Orlando to Los Angeles.
The man fell unconscious a few minutes after the plane took off from the airport. In a terrifying ordeal for nearby passengers, the man was seen on the plane shaking and sweating and having a hard time breathing even before the flight took off.
But once United Flight 591 was in the air, his condition deteriorated rapidly and the captain made the decision to perform an emergency landing in order for the man to receive medical attention.
Fortunately, there were three CPR-trained professionals who were onboard the flight who risked catching the coronavirus themselves in order to perform life-saving emergency procedures.
Just over an hour into the flight, the passenger who was sitting in seat 28D stopped breathing.
The crew asked if there were any doctors on board and a number of people with knowledge of CPR got up to help and rushed to the man’s aid in an attempt to revive him.
The footage, shot by fellow passengers shows three people taking turns to perform chest compressions on the man who has yet to be identified.
The unwell passenger was laid out in the aisle of the United Boeing 737-900 in full view of other concerned travelers while the three trained professionals administered CPR for almost an hour before the plane finally touched down in New Orleans in order for the man to be taken to hospital, where he later died, Mail Online reported.
Medics from the New Orleans fire department were allowed onboard once the plane had landed and further attempted to save him while his wife revealed within earshot of other travelers that her husband had been showing symptoms of COVID-19 for the past week, having lost his sense of taste and smell.
Tony Aldapa was one of the selfless passengers on board who helped perform chest compressions on the man.
He said “I got up after seeing two other passengers already performing CPR. I let them know “Hey I know CPR” and asked “Do you need some extra help?” I can tap in and help with chest compressions. That’s how it all started.
‘By the point that I got there to the point where the fire department got on board, it was at least 45 minutes,’ Aldapa explained. ‘I continued to switch out with them until he was removed from the airplane.’
“There was no mouth-to-mouth at all. We were doing chest compressions and they had him on the oxygen mask from the plane, then once we had a medical bag that is kept on board we used an ambu-bag which is a bag that you squeeze to give breaths, that’s what we used for breathing,” he detailed.
Aldapa said that despite the risk of contracting COVID, he continued to assist the man.
“Regardless of if he had COVID or not he needed CPR. I would hope that anyone would do that same for me or my family if put in the same situation,” he added.
It is pertinent to mention here that during check-in, all United passengers have to self-report on whether they have experienced any coronavirus symptoms.
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