Published on June 24, 2005

Thai Airways International insisted yesterday that its crew had done all it could for a passenger who died from a stroke on a flight last weekend to New York.

Relatives of Dr Krirkkrai Hasani had accused stewardesses on TG-490 of not taking care of him properly. They said they heard from Providence Hospital in Anchorage, Alaska, that he had been left unconscious in a lavatory for five hours.

THAI spokeswoman Sunatthi Assavapornchai gave a different account.

She said flight attendants heard knocking from inside a toilet and immediately broke the door open to find Krirkkrai. When he did not respond, they alerted the captain, who went on the intercom to ask for help. Three doctors, a nurse and a volunteer stepped forward and diagnosed Krirkkrai as having had a diabetes attack and stroke.

The doctors advised emergency attention, so the captain decided to put down in Anchorage even though all the other passengers would be inconvenienced. Krirkkrai was hospitalised but could not be saved.

The airline, not the hospital as the relatives claimed, had contacted Krirkkrai’s secretary, Jariya Phetngaowilai, to inform his relatives, said THAI.

The Nation

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