A 40-year-old man has died after falling ill on a flight from Bulgaria to Liverpool, forcing it to make an emergency landing.
The Jet2 flight left Burgas, Bulgaria just after 1pm local time on September 16.
As the Boeing 737 was cruising at about 23,000 ft two hours into the flight, the crew declared an emergency due to a medical incident involving a man on board.
The aircraft diverted to Cologne, Germany after sending squawk code 7700 to the air traffic control – meaning a general emergency which gives the plane priority.
It made a rapid descent before parking in a remote area of the airport where it was met by a medical team, AirLive reports.
The man on board reportedly suffered a cardiac arrest, and tragically died despite the best efforts of passengers and crew, according to the outlet.
A spokesperson for Jet2 confirmed the flight from Bourgas to Liverpool John Lennon airport diverted to Cologne on Monday ‘due to a customer requiring medical assistance.’
They told Metro.co.uk: ‘Regrettably, we can confirm that the customer sadly passed away.
‘We would like to extend our heartfelt condolences to the customer’s family and friends at this very difficult time.’
Cologne Police told Metro.co.uk the plane made an emergency landing ‘after a medical emergency on board.’
‘A 40-year-old passenger died on the way to the hospital. There is no evidence of third-party negligence,’ it said.
What is a squawk code?
Planes and air traffic control use different codes to communicate with each other.
Squawk codes range from identifying each plane to specific codes about emergencies.
The squawk 7700 is used for general emergency, the Flightradar24 explained.
The pilot might speak with the air traffic control tower first before sending the 7700 so that they can get priority over other planes.
Squawking 7700 also alerts all nearby ATC towers about the situation with the flight, Flightradar24 said.
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