Early investigations have revealed no signs of neglect, abuse or foul play in the death of an 8-year-old girl on a flight from Joplin to Chicago on Thursday morning, officials said in an update Friday afternoon.
When the aircraft made an emergency landing in Peoria, Sydney Weston was already unresponsive.
"Upon landing in Peoria, she was not breathing and had no pulse," the Peoria County Coroner's Office said in a statement.
The tragedy occurred on a SkyWest Airlines flight UA5121. Forty-five minutes after departing from Joplin Regional Airport, the plane began its descent south of Peoria.
According to emergency services, the aircraft was diverted to General Downing Peoria International Airport due to a medical emergency on board.
Sydney, from Carl Junction, Missouri, was traveling on vacation with her parents when she started feeling ill. Her parents immediately informed the airplane staff, who began "rapidly rendering aid," according to the coroner's office.
The plane landed at 7:02 a.m. on Thursday morning, just 71 minutes after takeoff. Once the aircraft touched down, emergency services began performing "life-saving measures," according to the Peoria County Sheriff's Office. The girl was already without a pulse.
She was transported to OSF Healthcare Saint Francis Medical Center seven miles away, where, "despite aggressive resuscitative efforts, she was pronounced deceased at 8:05 a.m. this morning," said the Peoria County Coroner's Office in a statement.
In its update on Friday, the office said an autopsy had so-far proved inconclusive.
"We will be awaiting histology, biopsies, cultures, blood hematology and chemistry, and toxicology testing," the statement read. "These tests generally take 4-6 weeks to result.
"Once we have those tests completed, it is our hope that we will be able to provide a definitive and exact cause of death for this little girl and give her family some answers."
Recent tragedies on board airplanes
Sydney's death is the latest in several tragedies on board a plane. On Saturday, June 8, a 41-year-old man died on a Fiji Airways flight en route from Nadi, Fiji, to San Francisco. He encountered a medical emergency an hour and a half before landing. The San Mateo County Coroner's Office later identified him as Raiznal Farzad Khalik, a U.S. citizen. The cause of death was not provided.
In February 2024, a 63-year-old German citizen died on a Lufthansa flight from Bangkok to Munich. Ninety minutes into the flight, the aircraft was forced to return to Bangkok after the passenger was pronounced dead. A nursing specialist from Switzerland, who was also on board, reportedly noticed his poor health as he was experiencing cold sweats and rapid breathing. Despite him coughing up blood and bleeding from the nose before departure, airport officials allowed the plane to take off. The death of the passenger was announced by the pilot over the speaker.
Last summer, a LATAM Airlines pilot died mid-flight after experiencing a "medical event" on a flight from Miami to Chile. The plane was diverted to Panama, where he was pronounced dead. The pilot's cause of death has not been released.
About the writer
Anezka Pichrtova is a Newsweek reporter based in London, U.K. She is part of the Live News Team. She has ... Read more
