An Indian father travelling from Mumbai to Auckland for the first time to meet his accountant son had died in-flight onboard Singapore Airlines on Friday, February 23.
72-year-old Narendra Mafatlal Shah of Mumbai was on a trip of his life with wife Pratibha Shah, to meet their son and his family when suffered a medical event onboard Singapore Airlines flight SQ 285.
Expectedly, son Hiral Shah, an Auckland based accountant, and his family were in shock when The Indian Weekender first spoke to them.
However, it was mum Pratibha Shah – who was flying for the first time and could barely speak English - for whom this entire experience was of disbelief, grief and anguish, to some extent.
Son Hiral Shah with mother Pratibha Shah at the former's house in Blockhouse Bay, Auckland (IWK Picture)
“My husband started feeling discomfort in breathing just about two hours into the flight from Singapore,” Mrs Shah told The Indian Weekender.
“We were carrying his nebuliser, but he was feeling too exhausted to use it himself and asked me to seek assistance from the crew in flight.
“I told an Indian-origin air hostess about his discomfort, as she was the only one who could speak in the Hindi language,” Mrs Shah said.
However, Mrs Shah believes that she did not receive much compassionate assistance from the staff on the aircraft – a charge that Singapore Airlines does not acquiesce with.
“I had asked the air hostess to provide oxygen to my husband as soon as he started complaining discomfort in breathing,” Mrs Shah said.
“But she said that they could provide oxygen only in the case of someone becoming unconscious.
“I tried requesting her to provide with oxygen-mask that appears in the aircraft’s in-flight safety manual video about safe landing.
“But I was told that it is reserved for emergency landing only.
“In the end, we were provided with a blanket and two Panadol tablets as my husband was also feeling a bit cold.
“Since then I have been trying to comfort my husband by gently massaging his chest for the remaining 8-9 hours of journey.
“It was only towards the wee end of the journey that my husband wished to go to the toilet, and I assisted him to the toilet and asked to not close it from inside.
“When he did not come out for 10 minutes, and I could not sense any movement then I raised the alarm with a fellow Hindi-speaking passenger.
“The crew opened the door and found my husband lying down with little movement.
“They attended him then, and a little bit later I was told that a doctor on the plane had attended him but could not save him.
The funeral of late Mr Shah was held on Sunday, February 25 in Auckland (IWK Picture)
The distraught son also had some questions in mind that he is seeking answers of.
“What bewilders me most is the fact that if a doctor was present in the flight which eventually attended my father in the toilet, then why no one reached out to him at the first place to attend my father when he first complained breathing problem,” Hiral Shah said.
“My mother did everything right in her control to seek assistance from the staff.
“My understanding is that the staff would have relayed it to her manager or other team members and who would have discussed among themselves a range of options available to them in-flight.
“Possibly, the doctor who later attended my dad could have been reached out timely and attended my dad’s condition just when it started just two hours into the flight.
However, Singapore Airlines maintains that their in-flight crew had done the needful to help the medical event.
A Singapore Airlines spokesperson, Karl Schubert, told the Indian Weekender, “A passenger on SQ285 on 23 February 2018 encountered difficulties while the flight was en route to Auckland from Singapore. Our crew, together with medical personnel who were on board, provided assistance to the passenger, but he regrettably passed away.
“We offer our sincere condolences to the family.”
The Indian Weekender’s enquiry to police about the incident was returned with a statement, “Police are aware of this death and it has been referred to the coroner as is the normal course of action for Police in these matters.”