An elderly man has been taken into custody for allegedly attempting to bring his deceased wife onto a plane in a wheelchair. The 80-year-old individual was intercepted by airport security at Tenerife South Airport in the Spanish Canary Islands when his wife was found unresponsive and with a significantly low body temperature. The incident, which raised immediate health concerns for the woman, triggered emergency procedures at the metal detector checkpoint.
According to a report from Spanish newspaper Diario de Avisos, the man was seen pushing his wife in the wheelchair as if they were a typical elderly couple preparing to board the aircraft. However, suspicions arose among the guards upon closer inspection after going through the checkpoint.
An airport staff member mentioned that upon checking the woman, it was discovered that she had a markedly low body temperature and was not breathing. The situation was promptly escalated, leading to the activation of emergency protocols with the arrival of numerous security personnel and forensic experts.
Initially, the husband claimed that his wife had passed away inside the airport a few hours earlier. Nevertheless, airport employees alleged that he repeatedly tried to blame the airport facilities for her death, a matter currently under investigation.
The man was apprehended at the airport and reportedly cooperated with law enforcement. Investigations are now underway to establish the circumstances surrounding the woman’s demise.
This incident occurred shortly after the recent case of an elderly woman’s death on an EasyJet flight from Malaga to London. Some passengers asserted that she was already deceased when brought on board by her family, although EasyJet maintained that she had been cleared for travel before boarding.