Tearful couple forced to sit next to dead passenger on long haul flight to Italy

An emotional Australian couple have been left "traumatised" after they were forced to sit next to a dead woman for hours after she died suddenly mid-flight.

Mitchell Ring and Jennifer Colin were on a Qatar Airways flight from Melbourne to Doha, en route to Venice in Italy, when a woman suddenly collapsed in the aisle after going to the toilet.

Despite the cabin crew’s best efforts to revive her, the woman passed away.

The dead woman was put beside Mr Ring, and covered in blankets for the remaining four hours of the flight to Doha.

“Unfortunately, the lady couldn't be saved, which was pretty heartbreaking to watch,” Mr Ring told A Current Affair.

“They went to try and move her, they brought this chair down...and they put her in the chair and tried to wheel her up towards business class.

“But she was quite a large lady, and they couldn't get her through the aisle.”

Crew members noticed there were vacant seats on both sides of the couple and asked them to move over and the dead woman was placed beside Mr Ring, in the very seat he had been sitting in.

The woman was covered in blankets for the remaining four hours of the flight to Doha.

"They looked a bit frustrated (cabin crew) and then they just looked at me and saw seats were available beside me – my wife was on the other side, we’re in a row of four by ourselves – and they just said to me, 'Can you move over, please?', and I just said, 'Yes, no problem,' and then they placed the lady in the chair that I was in”, said Mr Ring.

After touching down in Doha, the couple were instructed to remain in their seats while an ambulance and police boarded the plane.

Mr Ring said the crews began taking the blankets off the body and inspecting it while he and his wife were sitting there, meaning he saw the woman's face.

He said: “I can't believe they told us to stay...It wasn't nice.

“I thought they would have got us out quickly and let the ambulance and the police in there with no other people in there. But they told us to sit down and wait."

The couple claim they have not been contacted by either airline — with the flight booked through Qantas and Qatar acting as the carrier.

"They have a duty of care towards their customers as well as their staff, we should be contacted to make sure, do you need some support, do you need some counselling," Mr Ring said. "I don't really know how I feel and would like to speak to somebody to make sure I'm alright."

A Qatar Airways spokesperson said: "First and foremost our thoughts are with the family of the passenger who sadly passed away on board our flight.

Express has approached Qantas for comment.

"We apologise for any inconvenience or distress this incident may have caused, and are in the process of contacting passengers in line with our policies and procedures."