Passenger Dies on Plane

An Air Canada flight bound for Australia diverted to Honolulu over the weekend after a passenger died on the plane. Christopher Woodgate, 38, was pronounced dead when the flight landed in Honolulu on Saturday, said the Honolulu medical examiner's office. An autopsy will be conducted, the AP reports. The flight from Vancouver was headed for Brisbane when it diverted to Honolulu because of a medical emergency, said Peter Fitzpatrick, an Air Canada spokesman. He declined to provide details about what happened to the passenger.

Woodgate had been sick prior to the flight, said Jessica Lani Rich of the Visitor Aloha Society of Hawaii, a nonprofit that assists visitors in distress. He was traveling with five children, his wife and another family member, Rich said. Her organization also hired a nurse to care overnight for an 11-year-old passenger traveling alone. There were 257 passengers and 13 crew members on the flight. The airline provided passengers with hotel and food vouchers. The passengers left Honolulu on Sunday on a different plane, Fitzpatrick said.

(More Air Canada stories.)