Plane diverted as gunshot victim has heart attack

A DUTCH jet was forced to divert to Cork airport when a passenger with a gunshot wound suffered a heart attack.

Gardaí were present when the plane landed on the understanding that the man had been shot on board the aircraft. However, it transpired the man had been shot in the neck two days previously in Panama city.

Shortly after 11am the pilot of the KLM Royal Dutch Airlines flight from Panama to Amsterdam contacted air traffic control (ATC) in Shannon requesting permission to land in Cork. The pilot informed ATC that the passenger had a gunshot wound and there was a doctor on board. The passenger had suffered a cardiac arrest.