A vegetarian passenger died after being served non-vegetarian food on a Qatar Airways flight. The family of an 85-year-old passenger has filed a new lawsuit against the airline over wrongful death. Family members claimed that 85-year-old vegetarian passenger Ashok Jayaweera lost his life due to the airline’s negligence. This accident happened in July 2023 during a Qatar Airways flight from Los Angeles to Colombo.
Ashok Jayaweera was a cardiologist in Southern California, America, who was traveling from Los Angeles to Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka. He had ordered vegetarian food before the flight, but he was served non-vegetarian food in the flight. He tried to eat non-vegetarian food from all sides and during this a piece got stuck in his throat, due to which his breathing stopped and he died.
The relatives of the deceased passenger accused the airline
In a new lawsuit filed by Jayaweera’s family, the pilot of the plane had refused to make an emergency landing during the incident. The pilot’s reasoning behind this was that the plane was flying over the Arctic Circle/Arctic Ocean at that time. However, Jayaweera’s son Surya said that the plane was actually passing over the US Midwest at that time and could have been easily diverted.
The plane landed after three and a half hours, the passenger was dead
The complaint said that by the time the plane finally landed in Edinburgh, Scotland, Ashok Jayaweera was lying unconscious for about three and a half hours. After this he was taken to the hospital, but by then he had died.
Jayaweera’s family accused the airline of negligence
Ashok Jayaweera’s family is suing the airline for negligence and wrongful death. He says that the airline should have made an emergency landing immediately considering the seriousness of the situation. The case falls under the Montreal Convention, which governs the liability of airlines in case of death and injury on international flights.
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