Crime & Safety
Worcester Man Dies On International Flight Following Sickness: PD
The cause of the man's death was unknown, but he will be tested for the coronavirus because he had been sick in recent days.
WORCESTER, MA — A Worcester man died while aboard an international flight headed to Logan Airport on Saturday afternoon. Authorities don't know why he died, but he will be tested for the new coronavirus, COVID-19, because he was sick in recent days.
Around 12:30 p.m., state police were alerted that a man had gone into cardiac arrest while flying from Dubai to Boston. The plane landed around 3 p.m., which is when medics took the 59-year-0ld off the plane. There were 340 people aboard the plane — 322 passengers and 18 crew.
According to state police, the man traveled from Boston to India on March 4 with a layover in Dubai. The man was experiencing "gastrointestinal problems" in recent days, police said, but had no preexisting medical conditions.
"In light of the man’s international travel, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in an abundance of caution will test for COVID-19 as part of its postmortem examination," state police said in a news release. "The state police investigation remains open while we await those autopsy results."
The most common symptoms of COVID-19 are cough, fever, and shortness of breath, although some patients have experienced symptoms like nausea and vomiting, according to the New England Journal of Medicine.
