Death on Qantas flight: Manpreet Kaur’s last act

A young woman who died in her airplane seat as her flight prepared to take off in Melbourne spent her final moments looking at a photo of her parents on her phone.

Aspiring chef Manpreet Kaur, 24, flew back to Delhi, India on June 20 to visit her parents for the first time in four years after moving to Australia.

She suffered a medical emergency while fastening her seatbelt. The plane taxied back to the gate, where cabin crew and paramedics tried unsuccessfully to resuscitate her.

Her cousin and Melbourne flatmate Kuldeep Kaur told Daily Mail Australia that Ms Kaur’s health had deteriorated in recent months as she was unknowingly suffering from tuberculosis and that she was now travelling back so her family could help her recover.

Due to post-mortem confirmation of a respiratory infection, her body cannot be taken out of the country. Her family is in the process of arranging a trip to Australia to say goodbye to her.

The passenger sitting next to Ms Kaur has now spoken out and described the minutes between boarding the plane and her health incident, in the hope that this will provide some comfort to the family.

“It is very difficult to digest that a young girl you had just been in contact with has died in front of your eyes,” retired army officer Ravinder Singh told news.com.au on Thursday.

“Her innocent face still haunts me and I want her parents to know that she loved them very much. She left this world peacefully while looking at her photo.”

Mr Singh said that when he boarded the plane, Ms Kaur was already sitting in the aisle and he politely asked her to stand up so he could go to his window seat.

Shortly afterwards, the young woman began to look at photos on her phone, but stopped at a photo of an elderly couple.

He asked if they were her parents and she said yes.

Then the plane taxied to the runway and Ms Kaur put down her phone, fastened her seatbelt and laid her head on the seat in front of her.

Mr Singh said he wanted to tell the young woman to be careful not to hit her head when she took off, but he felt it was not his job.

However, as the plane jolted while approaching the runway, he noticed something was wrong as Ms Kaur slumped toward the middle seat.

He alerted the cabin crew, who checked her pulse and immediately turned the plane around.

Mr Singh said he was impressed by the cabin crew and they acted professionally in a difficult situation.

Ms Kaur’s family are in the process of applying for visas so they can fly to Australia and attend Ms Kaur’s funeral.

A friend of Ms Kaur, Gurdip Grewal, said the family was “devastated… (and) experiencing a mixture of shock, grief and disbelief”.

“It’s been a very tough time for everyone,” he told Daily Mail Australia.

Ms Kaur had been training to be a chef since moving to Australia, but was working for Australia Post in the month before her death.

Her cousin said he “couldn’t believe it” when a police officer knocked on their door and told him about the death of his “honest and kind” cousin.

“I drove her to the airport that morning and she said, ‘I’ll be back,'” Kuldeep said.

Ms Kaur had booked a return flight to Australia for July 25, expecting to have overcome her illness.

A GoFundMe campaign started by Mr. Grewal to support the Kaur family has raised over $41,000 in just over a week.

“Our dear friend Manpreet left us too soon and left a void in our lives that can never be filled,” the donation page says.

“As we mourn her passing, we would like to come together to honor her memory and support her family during this difficult time.”

A Qantas spokesman told Daily Mail Australia: “Our thoughts are with her family and loved ones.”

Victoria Police will prepare a report for the coroner.

The airline was informed of Ms Kaur’s tuberculosis diagnosis on Monday and contacted the National Incident Centre Operations for further information.

Victoria’s Department of Health said it had begun limited contact tracing the following day and anyone deemed to be a potential risk would be notified.