In the past, airlines have forgotten passengers, their baggage, crew members and now a U.S airline has forgotten to deliver a human heart to a medical hospital.
A Southwest airlines headed for Dallas from Seattle realized?midway that ?¡°life critical cargo shipment,¡± that carried a human heart had to be delivered to a medical institute in Seattle but was left on board.
International news agency AFP reported that the plane was hovering over Idaho which is 600 miles away from Seattle when the error was brought to notice. The incident which took place on Sunday afternoon created a panicky situation since someone had forgotten to unload a human heart.
Photo: AP
Seattle Times reported that the very first reaction of passengers was that of shock on why a human heart was being transported via a commercial carrier. Surprised passengers started searching for how long is a human heart viable- a human heart can typically be stored for between four and six hours for a transplant.
The error had resulted in the loss of four hours with three hours getting squandered in air alone. However, its intended destination and the company that had shipped the heart remain unclear. Another thing that is still ambiguous is the fact if anyone¡¯s life was in danger at all.
Photo: Thinkstock/Representational Image
Southwest spokesman Dan Landson responded by an email saying that the decision to return was made because it was ¡°absolutely necessary to deliver the shipment to its destination in the Seattle area as quickly as possible.¡±
A passenger Andrew Gottschalk called the incident a ¡°horrific story of gross negligence,¡± no matter where the heart was intended to go as reported by Seattle Times.
¡°The heart in question traveled from California, to Washington, to the other side of Idaho, and back to Washington,¡± he told the publication.
Once the plane landed again in Seattle, the passengers were asked to vacate the aircraft due to some unrelated mechanical issue. After a five hour delay the passengers once again took off for Dallas.