A passenger has detailed their horrific experience when a woman died on board a Qatar Airways flight to Sydney last week.
Francesca travelled from Doha to Sydney on Friday afternoon when the 60-year-old woman died.
The woman, understood to be from Campbelltown, was discovered halfway through the 14-hour flight.
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While Qatar Airways has only publicly said the woman “could not be revived”, Francesca told 7NEWS.com.au “it didn’t feel like they did enough”.
Francesca and her husband, Enrico*, were sitting in front of the woman on the flight.
They alerted the cabin crew after hearing the woman make a “weird noise”.
It was dark in the cabin, with most passengers asleep.
“We looked around, trying to understand what was happening,” Francesca said.
The couple were sitting by a number of children and thought maybe one of them had made the noise.
“She looked like she was sleeping, but she was making this really loud noise.”
Staff came over to check on the woman, trying to wake her up.
“They called more staff who came with an oxygen mask,” Francesca said.
“But then they just left,” Francesca claimed.
The couple say they were told by staff that “everything was all right”.
“You could see she wasn’t breathing,” Francesca said.
She said that after another 20 minutes, a staff member came over, and attempted to move the woman from her seat with the help of another passenger.
Francesca described the woman as “limp”.
They moved her to another section of the plane, where she said they performed CPR and used a defibrillator.
“I think at that point she was gone,” Francesca said.
“Why didn’t they do that a half hour earlier?”
‘They just left her there’
An announcement was then made, asking if there was a doctor or nurse on board.
After another half hour, the passengers behind Francesca and Enrico were moved elsewhere and the woman’s body, covered with a blanket, was moved back to the row of seats.
“When we landed, they announced there had been a medical emergency and everyone needed to remain seated,” Francesca said.
A paramedic, police officers, and biosecurity officers came on board the plane for some time before eventually letting passengers leave.
“Nobody asked us anything,” Francesca said.
She feels the airline could have handled the situation better.
“They just left her there,” she said.
Qatar Airways has been contacted for comment.
The airline earlier confirmed that a passenger had died on the flight but has yet to address claims made by the passengers.
“Regrettably, the lady could not be revived,” the spokesperson said earlier.
“Our thoughts are with the family at this difficult time.”
An Australian Border Force spokesperson declined to comment.
* Last name withheld for privacy
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