A young child has died after losing consciousness on a flight to New York while the plane was mid-air. The 11-year-old had been on a Turkish Airlines flight from Istanbul to the United States when they became unresponsive as it flew over Europe today.
The plane made an emergency landing at an airport in Hungary but despite medics rushing to the aircraft the child could not be saved, according to news agency MTI.
The Airport Medical Service had been scrambled to flight TK003 after it landed on the tarmac at Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport, it reported. It is believed the child involved was an 11-year-old American boy travelling with his family.
Local media claim the cabin crew performed first aid on the child, who had a disability, as did a doctor who was also travelling on the flight. Pilots contacted officials at Budapest Airport and got permission to make an emergency landing, touching down at 10.30 am, The Sun reports.
On the ground, they were met by medics and an ambulance which took the boy and his family to the hospital, although tragically he could not be saved. The flight, which had originally departed Istanbul Airport at 8.56 am local time (6.56 am BST), took off again at 2 pm (1 pm BST). Flight tracking data shows it landed at JFK Airport in New York at 3.45 pm EST (8.45 pm BST).
