Passengers on Hong Kong to London flight spent 13 hours with dead body onboard after woman died mid-flight; horrific incident explained

A journey from Hong Kong to London’s Heathrow Airport turned horrifying for over 300 passengers on a British Airways flight, who spent more than 13 hours with a dead body on board. Things took an ugly turn approximately one hour after Flight BA32 took off from Hong Kong on Sunday (March 15, 2026). According to multiple reports, a woman in her 60s died while on board the aircraft.

"A customer sadly passed away on board, and our thoughts are with their family and friends at this difficult time,” a spokesperson for British Airways said in a statement to PEOPLE. “We are supporting our crew, and all procedures were correctly followed."

Following the woman’s death, a source told The Sun that the family and crew were both “distraught.” However, the situation was not “viewed as an emergency” because the passenger had already died.


As the Airbus A350-1000 approached its landing, passengers began complaining about a strong odor, The Sun reported. “Obviously the family with the woman was distraught, and so was the crew. Many wanted to return to Hong Kong. But, to put it bluntly, if a passenger has already died, that is not viewed as an emergency,” the source told The Sun.

“A discussion was had about what to do with the body, with the flight deck’s request to lock it in a toilet rejected by the crew," the source stated. “So they had to isolate the body, wrap it in materials, and move it to a galley at the rear of the plane.”

“The galley had a heated floor, which some crew had overlooked, and towards the end of the flight, there were claims that a foul smell was present in that region,” the source added. After British Airways flight BA32 landed at London’s Heathrow Airport, police boarded the aircraft and asked all 331 passengers to remain in their seats for about 45 minutes while they carried out an investigation.