A female traveller passed away at King Shaka International Airport (KSIA) shortly before she could board a flight to Johannesburg on Friday, the Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) said.
Just after 8.30pm last night, a distress call was made to the airport call centre after the traveller was observed to be struggling to breathe at gate A12 of the airport terminal.
When medical responders arrived minutes later, the passenger was found unresponsive, ACSA said.
“ACSA can confirm that a call was reported at 8.35pm to the call centre requesting emergency medical response after a traveller was observed to be struggling to breathe at gate A12 of the airport terminal. Shortly before medics arrived, a passenger services agent was dispatched and arrived on the scene at 8.40pm to discover the patient to be unresponsive.
“Paramedics arrived on the scene at 8.49pm and proceeded to provide advanced life support to the patient. Despite all efforts, the traveller was unfortunately declared deceased on the scene.
“The cause of death is still unknown. However, we can confirm that the matter has been handed over to the South African Police Service,” ACSA said.