A passenger passed away during Turkish Airlines Flight 79 from Istanbul to San Francisco on July 13, 2025. The location of the body is unclear after the flight was diverted to Chicago O’Hare International Airport, Illinois.
The flight left Istanbul at around 2:30 p.m. local time and was nearly 12 hours into its journey when a passenger experienced a severe medical emergency while the plane was over Greenland. Flight attendants administered CPR and communicated with medical staff on the ground via radio, but their attempts were not successful.
The crew initially planned to divert to Keflavik Airport in Iceland, a typical emergency stop for transatlantic flights. However, after the passenger was declared dead mid-flight, the urgency for an emergency landing decreased, allowing the crew to proceed toward North America instead of diverting outside U.S. airspace.
The crew ultimately opted to land at Chicago O’Hare International Airport, Illinois, due to its capability to manage emergency situations with adequate medical support. The aircraft landed at O’Hare at 6:20 p.m. and remained grounded for about an hour before continuing to San Francisco.
Once on the ground in Chicago, the body was removed from the plane and responsibility was expected to transfer to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office. However, Natalia Derevyanny, a spokesperson for the medical examiner, stated that the office has no record of a body being received from the flight, nor any cases matching the incident’s description.
Ertugrul Gulsen, Turkish Airlines station manager, confirmed the diversion to Chicago O’Hare and mentioned that the passenger’s remains were later sent on another flight to San Francisco. Further details were not provided. The airline has not disclosed the passenger’s identity, nationality, gender, or specific cause of the medical emergency.
According to aviation protocols, if a passenger dies during a flight, the urgency to land diminishes somewhat, allowing crews to choose airports better equipped to manage such situations. Airlines follow strict procedures for onboard medical emergencies, with diversion decisions based on the passenger’s medical condition, nearest suitable airports, weather conditions, and ground medical service availability.
Passengers on the flight observed the CPR efforts, and flight attendants provided privacy by holding up blankets during the medical emergency. Aviation A2Z reported that “this maneuver is a standard procedure that provides time to assess the passenger’s condition.”
Medical emergencies occur on approximately one in every 600 flights, or 16 per million passengers, as per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In-flight deaths are much less common, with about three out of every 1,000 medical incidents being fatal.
A 2021 study published in the American Journal of Emergency Medicine reviewed around 1.5 billion passengers and found an all-cause mortality rate of 0.21 per million passengers. Almost all in-flight deaths not related to crashes result from cardiac arrest, often due to heart conditions exacerbated by flight stresses such as low oxygen levels and prolonged immobility.
This incident follows another Turkish Airlines situation in October 2024, when pilot Ilcehin Pehlivan, 59, died mid-flight during a journey from Seattle, Washington, to Istanbul. That flight was diverted to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, where it landed safely under the co-pilot’s control.
The International Air Transport Association mandates cabin crew to perform CPR until the patient resumes breathing, conditions become unsafe, rescuers are exhausted, the aircraft lands, or the person is presumed dead. CPR for at least 30 minutes with no signs of life may lead to presuming death.
The current case’s mystery revolves around the apparent breakdown in the custody chain for the deceased passenger’s remains. Standard procedures dictate that local medical examiner offices take responsibility for bodies removed from aircraft during emergency diversions, but Cook County officials assert they have no records of receiving or processing such a case from July 13.
Turkish Airlines has not provided further clarification about the handling of the remains or explained the discrepancy between the station manager’s account and the medical examiner’s records. The cause of the passenger’s medical emergency also remains undisclosed.
