Brit holidaymaker dies as plane was preparing to take off from Costas airport after falling ill on flight back to UK
A BRITISH holidaymaker has died on a plane which was about to leave the UK from a Costa airport.
The man is understood to have fallen ill while the Jet2 plane, bound for East Midlands Airport, prepared for take-off in Spain.
The pilot postponed the plane's departure and called for medical assistance at Reus Airport on Spain’s Costa Dorada, around 65 miles south of Barcelona.
Police sources have now confirmed the unnamed Brit was 61 years old.
One said: "He died on board the plane while it was still parked but preparing to taxi to the runway for take-off."
Another revealed the body would have had to stay on the plane until a judge or judicial officials inspected the scene and authorised its removal.
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They explained: "I can't comment on this particular case but normal procedure would be for the other passengers to disembark again until the body had been removed and the plane was ready for take-off.
"I imagine that's what happened here and that would have been behind the delay."
The aircraft departed nearly seven hours after its scheduled 11.10am departure on Friday, reaching its destination airport just before 6pm local time.
Early reports suggested the passenger lost consciousness and was pronounced dead on the aircraft after emergency responders were unable to save his life.
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A police source said the death was not being treated as suspicious as the passenger appeared to have had existing health problems.
They added: "But it will be up to the judge to determine the cause of death and the post-mortem results will obviously be able to shed proper light on what occurred.
"A court in Reus has been placed in charge of that probe."
One local report suggested the tragedy was linked to possible heart failure.
A Jet2 spokesman confirmed the tragedy on Sunday morning: "Flight LS684 from Reus to East Midlands Airport returned to stand on Friday 6th October, due to a customer requiring medical attention.
"Regrettably, we can confirm that the customer sadly passed away. Our thoughts are with the customer’s family and friends at this very difficult time."
It is not known whether the man was travelling alone or with family or friends.
Earlier this year, a passenger died onboard a Jet2 flight after witnesses saw a woman being led to the toilet "in distress".
The Jet2 LS756 flight was travelling from Tenerife to Manchester when an alert was issued over the health of a passenger.
The flight was forced to make an emergency landing at Cornwall Airport in Newquay.
Witnesses described the "emotional" scenes onboard the Jet2 flight as the unnamed passenger received CPR.
Another passenger tragically died on a Jet2 flight, bound for Glasgow, in March.
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The alarm was raised after the 44-year-old man "didn't wake up" on the flight from Antalya in Turkey.
It was understood cabin crew performed CPR for 40 minutes but the man sadly passed away.