Widow: Flight Crew Wouldn't Let Me Save Husband

Husband texted her about his suicide, but she coudn't call for help
By Newser Editors,  Newser Staff
Posted May 13, 2015 11:40 AM CDT
Widow: Flight Crew Wouldn't Let Me Save Husband
File photo of a Southwest Airlines jet.   (AP Photo/Springfield News-Leader, Valerie Mosley, File)

A rough story out of Wisconsin, where a woman on a plane waiting to take off says she received a text from her suicidal husband but was not allowed to call him or summon help. By the time the plane landed, her husband was dead. Karen Momsen-Evers tells Scripps Media that she got a text from husband Andy seeking forgiveness because he was about to kill himself, but a flight attendant ordered her to put the phone in airplane mode as she tried to call him. She asked another flight attendant after the plane took off, hoping that the crew could place an emergency call, but was again rebuffed.

"I just wanted someone to go and try to save him," says Evers. In a statement to Scripps, Southwest expressed sympathy for the family, adding: "Flight attendants are trained to notify the Captain if there is an emergency that poses a hazard to the aircraft or to the passengers on-board. In this situation, the pilots were not notified." (More Southwest Airlines stories.)

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