Indian-origin woman accuses Air Canada for her octogenarian father's death

Ottawa: An Indian-origin Canadian woman has accused Air Canada of negligence that caused her 83-year-old father's death during a flight from Delhi to Montreal, according to a media report on Monday.

Shanu Pande, a resident of Ontario, along with her father Harish Pant left Delhi for Canada in September on an Air Canada flight. Seven hours later, when the long-haul flight was over Europe, Pant developed severe medical symptoms: chest pain, back pain, vomiting, loss of bowel control and the inability to stand up, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) reported.

Subsequently, Pande pleaded with the cabin crew of the flag carrier to divert the plane and land in order to get her father to a hospital.

However, the flight stayed on course for nine more hours, travelling over Ireland, across the Atlantic Ocean and Eastern Canada before landing in Montreal, where paramedics were waiting. But Pant died as they worked on him.

The flight time from Delhi to Montreal is nearly 17 hours.

"He was deteriorating in front of my eyes," Pande was quoted as saying in the report.

Pande said she was looking forward to the trip for years — a flight that would bring her father to Canada from India after he finally obtained permanent residency status.

She alleged that Air Canada’s refusal to recognise her father’s symptoms as life-threatening might have cost him his life, the report said.

Pande said her father was "at the mercy of the pilot and Air Canada people". "They were inhumane and callous," she alleged.

Meanwhile, Air Canada 'categorically' rejected 'any assertions that it was responsible for the customer's death'.

The airline spokesperson Peter Fitzpatrick said the crew 'properly followed the procedures' for dealing with onboard medical emergencies, the report said.

He, however, declined to explain the procedures when asked, it said.