A 66-year-old passenger was discovered dead during an El Al flight from Bangkok to Tel Aviv, prompting a somber scene on board. The crew realized the situation when the passenger did not respond during breakfast service, and a child seated nearby failed to notify them.
“The passenger got up at one in the morning, asked the stewardess for a drink, and she checked that everything was fine with him. He told the stewardess that his stomach hurt but everything else was okay and he was not experiencing chest pain. When breakfast started about two hours later, the crew noticed that the man was unresponsive. A doctor was called to him and after several resuscitation attempts, he was pronounced dead.” passengers told Channel 12 News.
Yosef Dorfman, a ZAKA volunteer who happened to be on the flight, managed the situation after a child in the same row alerted the medical team. A doctor on board confirmed the passenger’s death, after which the body was respectfully moved to the rear of the plane and covered for the remainder of the journey. Dorfman noted that this was the second time in a year he had handled such an incident during a flight. The plane landed at Ben Gurion Airport without further incident.
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16 Responses
Any כהן aboard? If so:- This should have prompted urgency to make immediate emergency landing, to remove the מת or/& כהן from ✈️ & same אוהל
One more time and Dorfman will have a chazaka.
147,
Glad you are not a posek and please try very hard not to be one.
To 147:
I highly doubt they would consider this an emergency…
147: Neither El Al or any other airline will make an “emergency” landing in the event of someone being niftar on board. Obviously, to save a life by getting emergency medical care, of course they would make an emergency landing but NOT for this type of event which sadly happens not all that infrequently.
Total coincidence but on the Daf Yomi shiur last night, the magid shiur R’ Ely Stafansky, mentioned that such tragic events have occurred to him TWICE in recent years, once in the same row and once in the row in front of him.
bd”h.
but what will this do for el al’s plan to offer special flights for kohanim?! will these planes be specially designated?
147
That’s a chiyuv on the kohen not the owners of El Al who would have a giant hefsed or the hundreds of passengers who would have a large hefsed and giant tircha.
@147. Sometimes you say the stupidest things.
@147 what a ridiculous observation. That’s what you say? I’m pretty sure that anyone who is a kohen and was on board was tamei anyway ….BDE
No, 147, the cohen should have been given a parachute and jumped out of the aircraft.
Or the cohen or meis could’ve been pushed out the door in mid-flight. Seriously, I doubt there’s any halachic imperative to make an emergency landing in such circumstances.
Best things would have been for Cohanim this bothers that much to go into the bathroom, lock the door then jump out of the window.
So 147 paskens that the flight crew should call out on the intercom if there’s a cohen and El Al is michuyiv to land the plane right away?
but what will this do for el al’s plan to offer special flights for kohanim?
The “plan” is on hold while they consult with their special advisors on daas torah as to the contingency plans if one of the kohanim on the “special flights” is niftar somewhere over the Atlantic. The original idea of “burial at sea” did not go over well with the gadolim so they are working on a Plan B.
I would expect El Al to cater for kohanim and offer special flights at a higher price where nobody is allowed to die.
It was fascinating watching a Yeshiva Bucher trying to convince the agent that since the Niftar completed the flight he technically earned the miles but not needing them the Bocher should be able to claim them.