King Shaka Airport: Baby born in skywalk, passenger dies before takeoff

A female traveller passed away at King Shaka International Airport (KSIA) shortly before she could board a flight to Johannesburg on Friday evening, 21 June.

The Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) said the woman apparently struggled to breathe as she was preparing to board FlySafair flight FA279, scheduled to depart to Johannesburg at 8.45pm.

Female passenger dies at King Shaka Airport

Acsa media director Tshililo Manenzhe said shortly before medics arrived, a passenger services agent was dispatched and arrived on the scene at 8.40pm to discover the patient to be unresponsive. 
 
“Paramedics arrived on the scene at 8.49pm and proceeded to provide advanced life support to the patient. Despite all efforts, the traveller was unfortunately declared deceased on the scene. 
 
“The cause of death is still unknown, however, we can confirm that the matter has been handed over to the South African Police Service [Saps],” Manenzhe added. 

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Woman gives birth at airport

On Tuesday this week, a pregnant woman gave birth at the same airport.

According to IOL, the mother-to-be was fortunate enough to be surrounded by a team of medical professionals aboard a flight from Durban to Cape Town, who helped deliver her baby.

Doctor Demira Padayachee, a medical researcher based in Cape Town, was one of the people that helped the “cool, calm and collected” mother deliver the baby in the skywalk between the aeroplane and the airport.

“She was amazing, truly. It was almost as if her instincts kicked in and she just knew what to do,” Padayachee told the publication.

“Another colleague, Jessica Berry, who I did my residency with, was aboard the same flight. So we both got up to help the woman. We did not have any equipment, so we did the best with what we had.”

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