Man died of cardiac arrest on flight, inquest told

An inquest has heard that a man identified as Kitchen died after suffering cardiac arrest while aboard a commercial flight, with investigators linking the event to severe turbulence and underlying heart disease. The proceedings revealed that Kitchen had undergone stent placement in a coronary artery in April 2019. A follow‑up assessment in October of the same year determined that he had returned to what his general practitioner described as “normal workout capacity.” Dr Edward Sheffield, who conducted a further post‑mortem examination of Kitchen’s remains in Bristol, stated that the cause of death was cardiac failure resulting from coronary artery atheroma compounded by the physiological effects of turbulence. A study into the incident, which Harrowing partially contributed to, reported that 56 individuals were seriously injured, 23 sustained minor injuries and one man – Kitchen – lost his life. The study’s narrative includes the following direct quotations: “The craft was cruising astatine 37,000ft (11277.6m) erstwhile it was approaching the westbound seashore of south‑western Myanmar.” “At 07:49 GMT, the craft flew past a waypoint erstwhen the craft experienced terrible turbulence.” “By 07:53, the craft had stabilised,” the study said. According to the flight crew, the severe turbulence was reported and a Mayday call was issued at 08:01 GMT, requesting diversion to Bangkok. The aircraft subsequently landed at 08:45 GMT and was met by medical personnel on arrival.