Qatar Airways says crew handled dead passenger 'appropriately'

Qatar Airways says an internal review has found that its crew "acted quickly, appropriately and professionally" when they placed the body of a woman who died mid-flight next to an Australian couple. The airline issued the statement to the BBC on Friday, after the couple told Australia's Channel Nine that they were traumatised by the experience on the Melbourne to Doha flight. Qatar Airways had apologised in a previous statement for "any inconvenience or distress this incident may have caused". The incident sparked debate over procedures on dealing with deaths aboard planes. Mitchell Ring and Jennifer Colin, who were travelling to Venice for a holiday, said the cabin crew had placed the dead woman, covered in blankets, next to Ring for the last four hours of a 14-hour flight. The cabin crew had trouble moving her body through the aisle to the business class section because "she was quite a large lady", Ring said. They then asked Ring to move over and placed the lady in the seat he was in. While Colin was invited by another passenger to sit beside her across the aisle, Ring said the plane's staff did not offer to move him elsewhere even though there were vacant seats around. Qatar Airways said on Friday that the crew's handling of the woman's death was "in line with training and industry standard practice". "Passengers were accommodated to other seats, and a crew member was sitting at all times with the deceased passenger for the duration of the flight until landing in Doha," its statement said. "It is an unfortunate reality that unexpected deaths do sometimes occur on board aircraft across the aviation industry and our crew are highly trained to deal with these situations with as much respect and dignity as possible."<br/>