Trinidad national dies on repatriation flight

Flashback: A Caribbean Airlines aircraft which repatriated students from Cuba at the Piarco International Airport in July.
Flashback: A Caribbean Airlines aircraft which repatriated students from Cuba at the Piarco International Airport in July.

(Trinidad Guardian) A Caribbean Airlines repatriation flight from the JFK airport in New York to Trinidad was rerouted to Puerto Rico on Saturday night when one passenger on board began having severe medical issues.

Guardian Media spoke to one passenger on board, who said the elderly man appeared to have died by the time the aircraft landed in Puerto Rico.

The passenger said the man did not receive any medical treatment while the plane was in the air and when the aircraft landed, paramedics came onboard but after their initial assessment, they did not attend to the man.

The passenger said the man’s son, who was also on board, begged the first responders to assist his father.

The distraught passenger shared voice clips with the deceased man’s son appealing to Puerto Rican authorities to allow his father’s body to continue to Trinidad.

Around 1 am local time, the passengers were ordered to disembark from the aircraft.

Guardian Media lost contact with the passenger on board after the instruction to disembark was given.