A 34-year-old female passenger died after KLM flight from Amsterdam to Los Angeles made an emergency landing at Yellowknife Airport on Sunday morning.
Police announced on Monday that they first received the report on Sunday morning at around 9:30 a.m. that the passenger aboard KLM flight 601, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner (registration PH-BKG) traveling from Amsterdam to Los Angeles, was unresponsive. After cruising at 37,000 feet, the aircraft made an emergency landing at Yellowknife Airport in Canada’s Northwest Territories shortly after.
The crew’s decision to divert to Yellowknife rather than continue to Los Angeles indicates the serious nature of the medical emergency and the need for immediate ground-based medical intervention.
Officers and paramedics arrived at Yellowknife Airport following the emergency landing, with the unresponsive woman immediately taken to Stanton Territorial Hospital. Despite efforts to revive her by crew members aboard the plane and by emergency medical personnel on the ground, she was later pronounced dead at the hospital.
The attempts at resuscitation both in flight and after landing demonstrate that the medical emergency was recognized quickly and that KLM crew members utilized onboard medical equipment and training to try to save the passenger’s life.
KLM Flight 601 Route
KLM flight 601 operates as a regular scheduled service between Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport and Los Angeles International Airport, typically taking approximately 11 hours to complete the transatlantic journey.
The diversion to Yellowknife would have added significant time and distance to the journey for the remaining passengers, who would have needed to wait while the emergency was addressed and the aircraft was cleared to continue.
