Trinis stranded in Puerto Rico after passenger dies during flight home

A CARIBBEAN Airlines Ltd (CAL) plane en route to Trinidad had to be diverted on Monday to Puerto Rico after a female passenger began having breathing problems during the flight.

On Tuesday, speaking to Newsday on the condition of anonymity, a passenger said the woman died on the plane two hours after it made an emergency landing at the Luis Munoz Marin International Airport, San Juan, Puerto Rico, just before 3 am on Monday. At the time, crew members were still waiting for a medical team to arrive and assist.

The passenger said doctors who were also passengers on the flight confirmed the woman’s death and asked for the body to be covered with a cloth to prevent unnecessary trauma to other passengers, including children.

The stress of seeing one of their own dying was worsened, the passenger said, by the fact that they were all herded from the plane into the check-in area of the airport and left to fend for themselves for over 18 hours.

The passenger claimed no one offered food, drink or accommodation offered to the travellers during that time and they were not allowed to board a second CAL plane which arrived on Monday afternoon to take them to Trinidad.

As the hours passed with no word from airport officials and with no food or even bottled water being offered, some passengers bought tickets to Miami from another airline and boarded the next flight out of Puerto Rico.

Those who remained, roughly 100,  had no choice on Monday night but to sit on whatever chairs were available, lie on top of their luggage and, in some cases, sleep on the floor.

The passenger said both CAL planes remained at the Puerto Rico airport that night and passengers were told the next available flight to Trinidad would be at 10 pm on Tuesday.

A press release on Tuesday morning from CAL confirmed that flight BW483 was diverted to Puerto Rico after a medical emergency arose. The release did not indicate the nature of the emergency.

Later Tuesday, Newsday's source described the final moments of the passenger who died.

“The passenger was joyful and laughing and then the next minute, she was gasping for air and she was slowly leaning over but she didn’t fall over. Afterwards, we learned there were four medical doctors on the flight and they were around her trying to resuscitate her. One of the doctors was heard saying she had no pulse before we even landed in Puerto Rico. When we landed we sat in the plane with her for two hours before we were asked to disembark. They removed her after that.”

The passengers, she said, were then taken to the baggage area of the airport, where the group, which included children and seniors in wheelchairs, were left to sleep overnight.

“No water, no blanket for the freezing airport Monday night, no food as of 18 hours. It’s crazy. CAL only contacted us around seven the next morning,” she said, describing the incident as inhumane.

Soca star Darryl "Farmer Nappy" Henry was also on board the flight.

A video circulating on social media showed Henry among a group of disgruntled passengers at the front counter where airport officials were trying to assist passengers.

Contacted by Newsday, Henry described the ordeal as one in which the passengers were "abandoned for 18 hours by our own airline."

Henry had arrived at a hotel in Puerto Rico around 4.30 pm after airport officials had allowed the passengers to leave. He said he was hoping to get something to eat.

Another passenger, Elsa Lockhart, 71, told Newsday, "We felt as though we were treated as children. It felt like someone wasn't telling the truth. Many of us are loyal flyers. Simple communication would be nice."

It wasn’t until 1.20 pm that airport officials started handing out vouchers for hotel accommodation. Newsday's source explained that families of three to five people were given preference.

She said, in desperation, strangers grouped together pretending to be family members in order to get some from the limited batch of vouchers.

She added, “We were already angry by the delayed flight in Trinidad, where they told us the flight was delayed and would leave at 10 pm and then at 12 am (on Monday night). The flight left Trinidad at 1.16 am (on Tuesday morning), then this happened.

“After this, we were told a plane was here for us, but there was an issue. They told us 7 pm, then 7.30 and then they told us we would get food and accommodation soon. That was ten hours ago.”

Attempts to reach CAL CEO Garvin Medera were unsuccessful. Newsday also tried contacting the airport authority in Puerto Rico without success.

Contacted by Newsday and asked what arrangements were being made for the body of the deceased passenger to be repatriated to Trinidad and Tobago, Minister of National Security Fitzgerald Hinds said he was unaware of the situation.

Pressed on whether his ministry would hold an inquiry into the incident he said, “I know nothing of it. I don’t think there is anything useful I can add.”

Contacted for comment, Minister of Foreign Affairs Amery Browne told Newsday a flight was expected to bring the stranded group to TT on Tuesday night.

“I have been in touch with Caribbean Airlines via the airline's Corporation Sole, Minister Colm Imbert. And I feel great empathy for the affected travellers and particularly the family members of the traveller who passed away.

"The airline has responded to the situation and I am advised that the travellers are expected to be airborne to TT tonight. Our honorary consul in Puerto Rico has also been closely monitoring the situation and providing the ministry with regular updates.

“I am not aware of any alleged impounding of the second aircraft, but it is reported that there was a technical challenge encountered in Puerto Rico when refuelling that aircraft.”

In a release sent to media at 4.53 pm on Tuesday, CAL said the stranded passengers would return to TT on a flight leaving Puerto Rico on December 15 at 12 am.

In October last year, a 61-year-old man died on a CAL repatriation flight to Piarco from New York.

The plane was rerouted to Puerto Rico when the man showed signs of distress, but by the time it landed, the man had fallen unconscious and could not be resuscitated. He was later pronounced dead and taken off the plane by Puerto Rico officials.

There were no reports to suggest any serious disruption in that flight, which arrived in TT early the following day.