Man Fatally Chokes on In-Flight Meal




(Auckland, New Zealand) Ninety minutes into a flight from Singapore to Auckland, a 31-year-old man, Robert Rippingale, choked to death on the in-flight meal. Traveling with his female friend, Vanessa Preechakul, to visit his parents, Mr. Rippingale had a beef dish.

Miss Preechakul said she noticed him shaking, but did not realise anything was wrong. ‘I thought he was laughing very hard,’ she said. ‘Then I looked at his face and his eyes were rolling and he couldn’t talk. His lips were turning purple.’

A doctor and two nurses among the passengers went to help after hearing Miss Preechakul’s screams. Mr Rippingale, who had been living and working in Singapore for three years, was carried to the galley where the medical team performed CPR, but were unable to save him.

Sadly, a distraught Miss Preechakul sat with the corpse of Mr. Rippingale for the remaining nine hours of the flight.