American Flight Bound for NC Makes a Sad, Unexpected Stop

A flight from the Dominican Republic to North Carolina made an emergency stop in the Turks and Caicos Islands this week after a woman fell ill during the trip and later died. A Wednesday social media post from the archipelago's police force, which deemed the incident a "sudden death," noted that shortly after 6pm local time on Wednesday, they received a call from air traffic control asking for medical assistance for a 41-year-old female passenger who was said to be receiving CPR on board Flight 2790.

The flight from Punta Cana bound for Charlotte was then diverted to Turks and Caicos to attend to the woman's "medical needs," an airline spokesperson says in a statement, per People. Upon landing, the woman was rushed to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead. The woman hasn't yet been publicly IDed, but FOX59 reports she was from Central Indiana.

One commenter on the police's Facebook post claimed to be the woman's sister-in-law, noting that the deceased was the mom "of 2 beautiful children with big hearts and straight A's at school," per the Daily Beast. Another commenter replied to that remark and said she'd been a fellow passenger on Flight 2790 and seen the woman and "her husband/companion board and shared a laugh." Police say an autopsy will be performed to determine the cause of death. (More American Airlines stories.)