Swedish woman died on air ambulance from Gran Canaria

Anton McNulty

A SWEDISH woman who died on an air ambulance after taking ill in Gran Canaria was taken from the plane in Knock Airport as the air ambulance company did not have a licence to transport bodies.
Seventy-four-year-old Marianne Ahlstrom died approximately 30 minutes into a Tyrol Air Ambulance flight which was transporting her to Stockholm on February 18, 2017.
Speaking at Mrs Ahlstrom’s inquest in Castlebar, Mr Pat O’Connor, Coroner for Mayo explained that the protocol for airlines when a person dies is to land at the nearest airport. However, a second Irish patient was on the flight and due to land in Ireland West Airport Knock and the pilot decided to continue to fly to Ireland.
Mr O’Connor explained that this could have caused ‘international legal difficulties’ as they were dealing with a Swedish national on Irish soil on board an Austrian aircraft. However, he said a ‘pragmatic approach’ was taken and the body of Mrs Ahlstrom was taken from the aircraft and brought to Mayo University Hospital, where an post-mortem was performed.
Mr O’Connor added that he later received correspondence from the Austrian-based air ambulance company who stated they could not have continued the flight to Sweden as they did not have a licence to transport bodies.
The inquest heard that Mrs Ahlstrom had fallen ill while in Gran Canaria and the decision was taken to transfer her to a hospital in Sweden.
Approximately 20 minutes into the flight, her blood pressure went down and she found it difficult to breath. She died at approximately 10.15am Irish time and landed in Knock at 2.30pm on February 18.
Dr Tomas Nemeth, Consultant Pathologist who performed the post mortem, explained that Mrs Ahlstrom suffered from aschemic heart disease and died as a result of acute myocardial infarction. He said her death was natural.
Mr O’Connor recorded a verdict of death from natural causes and expressed sympathy with Mrs Ahlstrom’s family.