Woman dies during surge to board Ryanair flight
Paula Whitelaw hit her head during a rush to board a plane home
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.A woman died after falling down airport steps in a “surge” to board a Ryanair flight home.
Paula Whitelaw was flying from Krakow airport in Poland to Manchester on 20 March.
In the rush to board a bus to take them to the aircraft, several passengers tripped in a “domino effect” at the bottom of the airport stairs. Whitelaw, a 71-year-old grandmother of seven, suffered a fatal head injury as a result.
An inquest into her death at North Staffordshire Coroner’s Court heard that she was bleeding from her head after hitting the tiled floor, reports Stoke on Trent Live.
She was taken to hospital in Krakow where she was diagnosed with a brain haemorrhage and a broken collar bone. She died of cardiac arrest three weeks later on 13 April.
Her husband Tony Whitelaw told the hearing that they were called forward as priority passengers. “There was a surge of people and I was about three steps behind and I noticed my wife had fallen on the tiled floor on her right side,” he said.
He added: “There was an excited surge at the bottom of the stairs when they saw the bus, she may have stumbled or someone fell behind her. I don’t believe we’ll know exactly what happened at the front of that group of people.”
He described how passengers “gradually bunch together” when boarding aircraft, adding that he was surprised this hadn’t happened more often.
Assistant coroner Sarah Murphy recorded an accidental death.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments