A United Airlines passenger has died on a plane from Denver to Salt Lake City unexpectedly and fellow passengers tried to save him using CPR.
The male passenger, on board United Flight 5596, collapsed on the plane shortly after it landed in Utah on Sunday night. Paramedics were called immediately. The man, who appeared to be in his 30s, was later pronounced dead.
Airport spokeswoman Barbara Gann confirmed Monday the death of a passenger on United Flight 5596 out of Denver. Jared Noall, a passenger on the flight and a combat medic with the Army Reserve, assisted with performing CPR on the man until paramedics arrived.
Noall said 15-20 minutes before the plane landed in Salt Lake City, he noticed a passenger snoring loudly two rows back. He said the man moved a bit and stopped snoring, but "we just thought he had found the sweet spot where he was comfortable and could sleep."
It wasn't until the plane landed and the lights went on that passengers could tell something was wrong, Noall said. He said he turned around the look at the man, and immediately thought the man was dead.
"You could tell something was wrong. I asked, 'Hey, sir, are you awake?' " Noall said. "I shook him a bit, trying to see if I could get a response out of him. We checked his throat for a pulse, and it wasn't there, so we laid him down in the aisle and start CPR."
The cause for the man's death has not yet been determined.
