Plane diverted as gunshot victim has 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.
A Garda spokesperson said they understood that the man had been shot on board. “The wrong message was received,” said the spokesperson, although gardaí declined to say if the armed Emergency Response Unit was tasked.
A spokesperson for KLM said: “We knew he was ill; he was suffering from a gunshot wound. We have to know what is wrong with the passenger if we are going to allow him travel.”
The man had been deemed fit to travel and KLM had provided a doctor. The spokesperson said the KLM758 had to make an early stop because the man was “not feeling good”.
The man was taken by ambulance to Cork University Hospital where a spokesperson described his condition as “stable”.
Meanwhile, a man in his 60s, who was a passenger on a separate transatlantic flight, died yesterday after suffering a heart attack. The flight was diverted to Shannon en route from London Gatwick to Atlanta, Georgia.
