Airline wins lawsuit over rider's death

Pudong New Area People's Court has ruled that an airline wasn't liable for the death of a Shanghai resident who suffered a heart attack on one of its flights last year, the court said Monday.

The family of the deceased passenger, surnamed Zhang, 51, sued the airline, which was not identified, for 670,000 yuan ($110,007) on the grounds that the flight crew did not do enough to save their relative's life, according to a court press release.

The plaintiffs criticized the airline's crew for failing to give Zhang cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) or ordering an emergency landing to get him to a hospital, the court said.

The incident in question occurred on a flight from Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, to Beijing in June 2012. It was about an hour into the flight when Zhang began to have trouble breathing. A passenger in a neighboring seat called for help and the crew began performing first aid, including giving Zhang oxygen. The crew members contacted the airport in Beijing to have emergency medical personnel standing by when they landed.

When the plane arrived around 7:20 pm, Zhang was immediately taken off the plane and transported to a hospital. He died about an hour later. A medical report showed that he died of a heart attack.

In court, the airline argued that the crew members did everything in their power to take care of Zhang.

The court found that the flight crew did its best to help Zhang. In its ruling, the court said it wasn't realistic to expect a flight crew to have the same training as a hospital medical staff.