An elderly American passenger suffering from cancer died about 90 minutes after a Vietnam Airlines flight took off from Guangzhou Province (China) to leave for Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam) on Saturday.

>> Vietnamese plane makes emergency landing in Hong Kong due to technical incident Vietnam Airlines, which is the national flag carrier, said when Tr. V. N., of American nationality, was carrying out procedures to board flight VN503 at Baiyun International Airport in Guangzhou, the ground staff noticed N. showing signs of poor health. The staff therefore requested that N. obtain health certification from doctors at the airport. The carrier noted that N. was battling lung cancer. After airport doctors concluded N.’s condition was so bad that he could not fly, N.’s relatives asked the airline to agree for N. to take the flight and made a written commitment that they would be responsible for any risks that could occur to the passenger during the flight. N.’s relatives also affirmed that they would exempt Vietnam Airlines from any liabilities in relation to letting N. fly, according to the commitment. About an hour after the plane took off, N.’s condition worsened and flight attendants asked another passenger who was a doctor to give first aid to N., the crew said in a report. The doctor then put N. on a respirator but he died in flight, about 90 minutes after take-off, the report said.    The American was 76 years old and it took 2.5 hours to fly from Guangzhou to the southern Vietnamese city, according to Nguoi Lao Dong (Laborers) newspaper.   When the plane landed at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City, a Vietnam Airlines representative coordinated with competent agencies to take the American passenger to Cho Ray Hospital.  N.’s relatives later hired an ambulance to carry N. to the southern Vietnamese province of Tay Ninh, as per his family’s wishes. After the incident, the plane was sterilized in accordance with applicable regulations before resuming normal operations.

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