Family accused of putting dead grandmother on flight from Malaga to London Gatwick in order to 'save on repatriation costs'

An easyJet flight operating the route between Malaga Airport and London Gatwick was the scene of a surreal incident that has shocked travellers. Several passengers have accused a British family of trying to board the plane with the dead body of their grandmother, an 89-year-old woman, passing her off as a sleeping person.

According to the Daily Mail, the elderly woman was taken onto the aircraft in a wheelchair by five of her relatives. When questioned about the woman's condition at the time of boarding, the relatives reportedly assured the ground staff that she was unwell and had simply fallen asleep.

The British tabloid newspaper revealed that some witnesses claim to have heard the relatives justify the situation to the employees by saying: "It's OK, she's just tired," and even added: "It's OK, we are doctors".

The plan seemed to work initially, as the group managed to get the woman into a seat at the back of the plane. However, as the aircraft was about to take off just after 11am, the cabin crew realised that the passenger had died, forcing the aircraft to be brought to a dramatic halt before leaving the runway.

Petra Boddington, one of the passengers on the flight, has told the Daily Mail of her disbelief at what happened: "What were the easyJet ground staff thinking today? They asked the family five times if the woman was all right? and clearly she wasn't!" Boddington described that, to the naked eye, the woman looked "already deceased, slumped and unconscious in a wheelchair".

The passenger has suggested that the family's motivation may have been financial: "Why would she be allowed to board the flight and disrupt everyone's plans... purely to save the family from repatriation costs? If I was drunk they wouldn't let me board, but apparently, being dead is fine".

Another passenger, Tracy-Ann Kitching, has expressed her unease on social media, also pointing out the responsibility of the special assistance service for passengers with reduced mobility. "I saw her being wheeled onto the plane; someone was holding her head as they passed me! A doctor on board confirmed that was already dead when they sat her down," she said.

In response to the passengers' accusations, an easyJet spokesperson has denied that a deceased person was allowed to board. The airline has assured that the passenger had a certificate of fitness to fly (fit to fly) and that she was alive when she boarded the plane.

"The flight returned to the stand prior to take-off due to a customer on board requiring urgent medical assistance. The flight was met by the emergency services, but sadly the customer passed away," the airline said.

The Guardia Civil in Malaga has confirmed that its officers went to the aircraft and that the woman was declared dead inside the plane, which was scheduled to depart shortly after 11am on Thursday.

The incident caused a delay of around 12 hours, and the flight did not finally take off until 11.47pm. No arrests have been made among the family members.

It should be remembered that the transport of mortal remains across borders is a complex and costly procedure, usually carried out on cargo flights and which requires official death certificates and special coffins.