RYANAIR has been urged to carry more medical equipment after a woman died on one of their aircrafts while on route to Lanzarote.
Mother-of-two Davina Tavener collapsed in the toilets 20 minutes before her flight to the Canary Island was due to land, an inquest into her death heard yesterday.
With no resuscitation equipment on board, life-saving medical apparatus could only be brought to the 47-year-old by paramedics once the flight landed.
But Mrs Tavener, who was travelling with her husband Andrew for a week’s holiday in the sunshine island, never regained consciousness and was pronounced dead on the aircraft on November 1, 2014.
While Ryanair was not legally required to carry resuscitation equipment on the flight in question, at the inquest - held at Bolton Coroners Court on Monday, June 15 - Coroner Andy Walsh urged airline bosses to consider doing so.
“If you are trapped in an aircraft without access to any other facilities that authority needs to consider the equipment to be carried on these aircraft whether short haul or long haul,” he said.
"It is difficult to know if any equipment would have assisted because she was in the toilet some 5-10 minutes prior, so we do not know how long she was unresponsive for,” he added.
Mrs Tavener, a Bolton-based bank manager for HSBC, had no history of illness.
While inquest pathologist Dr Emile Salmo could not establish the cause of her death, he did suggest that airlines should carry “basic life support equipment”.
"I think it is necessary to have basic life support equipment and probably a defibrillator which are very simple these days - portable and friendly,” he said.
Speaking at the inquest, Ryanair Regional Base Manager Captain Chris Grube claimed protocol was followed throughout the incident, with a medical emergency mayday issued by the airline, along with a request made with air traffic control for emergency medical assistance to be available upon landing.
A spokesman for Ryanair has since added: "While we don't comment on legal matters, Ryanair meets all regulatory requirements in terms of medical assistance provided on its flights and is not legally required to carry defibrillators on board.
"All our crews are trained in first aid and are responsible for the safety and security of the cabin. Should an incident occur in flight which requires medical intervention, our crew divert to the nearest suitable airport and request medical assistance to be on standby before landing.”
The Irish airline added: "We offer our sincere condolences to the bereaved."
