Dubai: The crew members of an Emirates flight from Dubai to Chennai have been hailed as heroes after they saved the life a passenger who fell unconscious mid-flight.
The heartwarming story of how the unnamed four-member crew saved the passenger gained thousands of likes after one of the co-passengers, who witnessed the incident, shared it on professional networking online platform LinkedIn.
Emirates confirmed that the incident happened on flight EK 544 on 19 March 2021. In a statement, Emirates said “a passenger felt unwell and our cabin crew members immediately administered medical assistance to the passenger following standard protocol.”
“The passenger recovered and disembarked the aircraft upon arrival at Chennai.”
Heartening amid tragedy
Naren Balasubramaniam, who was on the flight, shared his experience of witnessing the heroic act by the crew members amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Though he was travelling after a personal tragedy of losing his father to COVID-19, he was heartened to witness the crew saving the passenger’s life. “Today as I travelled to Chennai with a heavy heart having lost my dad to COVID, I was so heartened to witness the flight crew saving the life of a passenger who fell unconscious mid-flight and stopped breathing.”
“They were remarkable, kept their calm, moved swiftly, had a clear chain of command with 4 crew members following a step by step protocol — provided oxygen support, performed CPR procedures mid-flight and sent a family safe without losing a life,” his post said.
“Here it is for the unnamed heroes, unassuming and humble 2 crew members from the team of 4. THANK U for saving a life!” he added, while sharing the photos of two of the crew members.
The airline said all its cabin crew go through a comprehensive training programme that prepares them to recognise and deal with medical events during the flight. “The health and safety of our customers and our crew is of the utmost importance to us,” it added.
Unsung heroes
Meanwhile, Naren’s post gathered thousands of likes and hundreds of comments. Several people took the opportunity to highlight that airline cabin crew are often the unsung heroes and celebrated their contributions as frontline warriors during the pandemic. “We celebrate front liners. We celebrate the cabin crew who have a bigger task than just serving us with fnb. Salute (sic),” wrote Phyllis Lobo.
Many others also shared their experiences of great service and presence of mind exhibited by cabin crew members on different occasions.
Dr Catherine Baird, a senior executive in cabin crew training, also commented: “So proud of the EK crew. Professional, skilled, compassionate, and capable. And a huge shout out to the equally impressive training team who set the crew up for success with the knowledge and confidence. Thank you Naren for the recognition and kudos to these amazing people and prayers with you for your sad loss.”
