Man dies on SIA flight bound for Milan, wife tears & thanks doctor for trying to save husband

A passenger died on board a Singapore Airlines flight bound for Milan from Singapore on Nov. 5, despite resuscitation efforts by doctors and cabin crew on board.

A doctor, who was travelling for a holiday and responded to the mid-flight call for medical assistance, recounted the incident and its touching ending in a series of TikTok videos.

"Is there a doctor on board?"

The doctor, Desmond Wai, posted the first TikTok clip about the incident on Nov. 5.

According to the Singapore Medical Council registry, Wai is a gastroenterologist and has his own specialist clinic at Mount Elizabeth Novena Specialist Centre.

He wrote on his website that he specialises in treating patients with various types of liver and digestive diseases.

He was on SQ378, which departed Singapore at around 12am and was bound for Milan, when the incident occurred, Wai told 8World.

In the first of his videos, Wai, who was travelling for a holiday, said that it was about 2:30am at the time of his recording.

About 30 minutes before, there was a call for doctors' assistance due to a medical emergency.

Wai volunteered as he felt it was his "ethical duty" to help and headed to the back of the plane.

There, he saw a collapsed man on the floor.

"The air stewardess was trying to perform CPR," he recounted, saying that there was also an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) at hand.

He later shared that two other doctors on board the flight also answered the call for assistance and was trying to help the man.

Wai joined them in the resuscitation effort.

It went on for half an hour, but the doctors assessed that it was too late as the "pupil had already dilated" and no pulse or breathing were detected.

According to Wai, he touched the belly of the deceased man and felt a "huge liver", which led him to speculate that the man may have had liver cancer.

Praise for Singapore Airlines crew

The doctor praised the airline and its crew for their handling of the emergency, saying that he was surprised they were "well versed" with things like basic cardiac life support.

"They even had [an] AED to check the pulse and to shock the patient," Wai said.

In a second clip, Wai shared that besides him, two other doctors and almost the entire cabin crew were present and assisted with the medical emergency.

"I'm sorry to say that we failed," Wai commented.

Wife of deceased thanked him for trying

Wai explained that because he is a registered doctor in Singapore and not in the country he was travelling to, he cannot certify the death.

That will have to be done by medical professionals after they land, he added.

Wai shared in a third clip that upon landing, he and his fellow doctors provided their statements to the police.

"At the end of it, the wife of the deceased came to me in tears and she said, 'Thank you doctor for trying'," Wai recalled.

"That was the most touching moment," the doctor said.

Responding to queries from Mothership, a Singapore Airlines spokesperson said that the airline expresses its deepest condolences to the family of our customer who died on board SQ378 on Nov. 5.

"We would also like to extend our heartfelt appreciation to our customers, including the medical personnel who were on board, who helped during the medical emergency," the spokesperson said.

They added that they are unable to share further details about the customer or the medical emergency due to privacy reasons.

The spokesperson said that SIA has a set of standard operating procedures in place to handle various in-flight medical emergencies and that its cabin crew, who are trained in first aid, will assess the situation and assist if required.

"If necessary, they may also request for assistance from any medical personnel who are on board the flight," the spokesperson explained.

Top image via Wikimedia Commons, Desmond Wai / TikTok