Patient Dies After Air Ambulance Door Opens Mid-Air and Flight Lands in Dhaka

A patient died after the air ambulance carrying her from Agartala to Kolkata made an emergency landing in Dhaka on Sunday, after a cabin pressurisation failure damaged the aircraft's main door and caused it to open partially in flight, airport authorities in Bangladesh said.

The aircraft was a Beechcraft King Air C90A, registered VT-HYA and operated by SKB Infracon Private Limited, according to the passenger list cited in local reports. It was flying a medical evacuation from Maharaja Bir Bikram Airport in Agartala. The patient was Anjana Bhowmik, 56, an Indian citizen. Seven people were on board in total: two pilots, the patient, a doctor, a paramedic and two companions.

The Business Standard, reporting a press release from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, said the aircraft left Agartala at 1:05 p.m. Indian time on Sunday, October 18. While it was climbing above 12,000 feet, a fault developed in the cabin pressurisation system. The failure damaged the main door, which opened partially. The pilot declared an emergency.

Landing in Dhaka

The airport in Dhaka prepared for the arrival before the aircraft landed. Fire and rescue vehicles, ambulances, medical staff and other emergency services were kept ready, the airport authority said.

The aircraft landed safely at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 1:40 p.m. local time. All the crew and the other occupants were reported safe after the landing.

Bhowmik was taken at once to Kurmitola Multicare Specialized Hospital in Dhaka, where the attending doctor declared her dead, the airport authority said. Reports do not establish why she died, and nothing published so far links her death to the pressurisation failure or the door opening. She was a patient on a medical flight, and her condition before the flight has not been described in the reports.

Local reports naming the passenger list identified the pilot in command as Punya Anup and the co-pilot as Tanuj Sharma, the doctor as Firoz Khan, the paramedic as Azim Khan, and the two companions as Santa Bhowmik and Deep Jyoti Mishra. A senior officer at the airport, Md. Riaz Uddin, confirmed the incident to local media.

Help on humanitarian grounds

The flight had not completed the clearance formalities for a landing in Bangladesh. The airport authority said it gave the crew and occupants the help they needed on humanitarian grounds and as part of international cooperation. It also worked with the Indian embassy in Dhaka on the diplomatic clearances, and embassy representatives visited the airport, the authority said.

PTI, cited by Daily Jagran on Monday, reported the same outline: a technical fault, a door that partially opened at about 12,000 feet, a safe landing in Dhaka on Sunday, and the 56 year old patient declared dead later at a hospital. The Hindu also reported the death on Monday.

What failed in the pressurisation system, and why the door was damaged, has not been explained in the published reports. Those are the questions an investigation would have to answer.