Airline Makes Emergency Landing; Passenger Dies in Belize!
Sometime after one-thirty on Sunday afternoon, a United Airlines flight out of Houston en route to El Salvador had to make an emergency stop in Belize at the Philip Goldson International Airport. One of the passengers onboard, seventy-one-year-old Maria Velasquez, had a medical issue. According to reports, Velasquez was vomiting and exhibiting respiratory distress. While details are sketchy about the circumstances under which Velasquez fell ill, information is that she was a diabetic patient and she was inside the airplane’s restroom upon landing. According to police, Velasquez was taken off the plane and was inside the P.G.I.A. when she died. Police say Velasquez was swabbed post-mortem for COVID-19, but the result was negative. Here are the details, as provided by C.I.B. Commander, Superintendent Alejandro Cowo.
Supt. Alejandro Cowo, O.C., C.I.B., Eastern Division
“Yesterday, sometime after one-thirty, a Delta Airlines airplane made an emergency landing at the Philip Goldson International Airport. I think it was travelling from Los Angeles to El Salvador. Upon landing at the airport, medical personnel boarded the plane and inside the bathroom they observed a female who was vomiting and had other symptoms. She was removed from the plane and taken to a room inside the P.G.I.A. and while she was being attended by the doctor she passed away. That is all the information I can give you at this time.”
Reporter
“Sir, are you able to say anything about any kind of COVID health response to this situation?”
Alejandro Cowo
Supt. Alejandro Cowo
“I know that she was swabbed and the swab came out negative. According to the doctor, they have established through the embassy with other family members that she had a sickness and that is what we are looking at, at this moment.”
Andrea Polanco
“So, a post-mortem will be conducted here in Belize, sir?”
Supt. Alejandro Cowo
“We believe so.”
Note that in the interview, police mistakenly identified the airline as Delta, but it was a United Airlines flight out of Houston.
