This man dies mid-flight after 'coughing up liters of blood', leaving passengers traumatized

TW: mentions of blood, injury, death

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A terrible tragedy occurred on the Lufthansa flight from Bangkok, Thailand, to Munich, Germany, on the evening of Thursday February 8. According to information reported by CNEWS, a 63-year-old German passenger died mid-flight. Before he died, the sixty-year-old had coughed up 'liters of blood' through his nose and mouth, according to witnesses who spoke to the Swiss media outlet Blick.

The sexagenarian was in a bad shape before take-off

The scene of horror unfolded on the 18-hour flight in a Lufthansa Airbus A380 on Thursday from Bangkok, Thailand, to Munich. A Swiss couple, Martin Missfleder and his wife Karin, agreed to testify. Seated close to the victim during the flight, in the row immediately in front, the couple assured Blick that the man was accompanied by a Filipino woman, and that he was already in a bad way when the plane took off. Karin spoke of 'cold sweats'.

The man was breathing 'much too fast', she told the Swiss newspaper Blick. A nurse by profession, the witness alerted the flight crew and requested a medical examination. The captain 'called a doctor over the loudspeaker, a young Polish man in his thirties who spoke poor English', she said. While a doctor briefly consulted the German passenger, the latter declared that he was fit to travel. However, the Swiss couple confirmed that the 60-year-old's health continued to deteriorate before the plane took off.

Passenger loses 'gallons of blood'

Karin Missfleder goes on to testify that the man was spitting blood into the bag handed to him by his wife, after bringing him tea to try and soothe him. When the plane took off, she said, a 'jet of blood' came out of his mouth and nose. According to Karin, the passenger lost 'liters of blood':

It was an absolute horror, everyone was screaming.

According to witnesses, the walls of the plane were then sprayed with blood. Aircraft personnel tried to resuscitate the critically ill man for 'about half an hour', assured Martin Missfleder's wife. The couple added:

There was dead silence on board.

A death announced

Later, the captain announced over the loudspeaker the death of the German passenger as he turned back towards Thailand. This information was later confirmed by Lufthansa. At Bangkok airport, Martin Missfelder was shocked:

Nobody took care of us, we waited for two hours.

The passengers were finally rebooked on a flight via Hong Kong, as reported in Le Parisien. The victim's wife, meanwhile, 'was left all alone and had to endure all the formalities', the Swiss couple lament.