According to the Xiaoxiang Morning News, a passenger on Turkish Airlines Flight TK79 (Airbus A350-900) from Istanbul to San Francisco in the United States recently died during the flight.
What’s more bizarre is that after landing, his body mysteriously disappeared and is currently unaccounted for.
On the day of the incident, Flight TK79 was originally scheduled to fly from Istanbul Airport to San Francisco International Airport. The passenger developed a sudden illness and rapidly deteriorated on board, passing away while the plane was flying. After briefly circling over Greenland, the aircraft decided to change its course to O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, a large hub with medical and emergency response capabilities.
As per the original plan, the plane was to make a brief stop in Chicago before continuing to San Francisco, delaying the journey by about two hours. Most passengers remained on the original flight, while others were transferred to other flights.
At 21:53 local time, the plane successfully landed in Chicago, and the body was immediately removed from the cabin. According to standard procedures, the body should be registered with the local coroner’s office upon arrival, which took over custody.
However, a spokesperson for the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office stated that they “have not received any notification” or the body from the flight, leaving no record of any related case.
Eltuluer Gulsen, the station manager for Turkish Airlines in the United States, confirmed that the flight indeed changed to O’Hare Airport and added that the passenger’s body was later placed on another flight heading to San Francisco, but there was no further explanation provided.
The whereabouts of the passenger’s body remains unknown, and the name, nationality, and cause of death remain a mystery.
In response, authorities in the United States and Turkey have initiated an investigation.
It was explained that when a passenger experiences a medical emergency during the flight, crew members need to assess the situation and seek assistance from onboard medical staff as much as possible. If the passenger ultimately dies, only a licensed doctor can officially declare their death.
According to guidelines set by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), airlines are not allowed to remove bodies from the plane until the local authorities have taken over the body. The body is usually covered with a blanket and arranged in seats less crowded around the passenger; if the flight is full, passengers are still required to fasten their seatbelts, remain seated, and cover themselves with a blanket.