Man Dies on Flight Despite Efforts of Fellow Passengers
A man died aboard a flight from Denver to Salt Lake City despite attempts by fellow passengers to save his life. Passengers described the awful scene aboard the plane.
The man had been snoring loudly and disrupting everyone around him but suddenly stopped, according to witness Jared Noall. The quiet quickly got fellow passengers' attention, but no one checked on him until the plane had landed.
"You could tell something was wrong. I asked, 'Hey, sir, are you awake?'" Noall told KSL TV. "I shook him a bit, trying to see if I could get a response out of him. We checked his throat for a pulse, and it wasn't there. So we laid him down in the aisle and started CPR."
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Noall is a combat medic with the Army Reserve and led the attempts to save his fellow passenger's life. Two other people helped administer CPR and used the on-board defibrillator, but nothing worked. Noall and others continued working until paramedics were able to board the plane and take over.
An hour and a half later, the man, who Noall described as being in his 30s, was formally pronounced dead at a local hospital, Fox News reported.
Authorities are not releasing the deceased's name yet until family has been notified. Airport spokeswoman Barbara Gann said that airport police are investigating the incident to ensure that nothing else could have been done or that nothing was overlooked.
"Everyone came together to try to help, though. We did what we could," Noall added. "It sort of sucks because you always want to save people's lives, but what can you do?"
"They tried their very best," passenger Kevin MacIsaac said. "The family of the deceased man would be glad to know he [Noall] did everything possible to revive him. It was sad to see the flight attendant remove his bag from the overhead rack – what shocking news for his family."
