It Took Them 18 Hours to Realize That Someone Died in the First Class Lounge
Jackie Reddy May 15, 2019
Nearly 18 hours after he entered the bathroom of Cathay Pacific’s first class lounge at SFO late last October, academic Ming Kou Chan was found dead. According to an autopsy report, Chan died of heart failure caused by coronary atherosclerosis. Cathay has declined to offer comment on the incident.
An academic was found dead in the bathroom of the Cathay Pacific first class lounge at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) late last October, CBS affiliate KPIX 5 reports. According to an autopsy report, Ming Kou Chan, who held a Ph.D. in East Asian History from Stanford University and was a Hoover Institution Research Fellow, was found over 17 hours after he entered the facility on October 29th, 2018.
Chan’s last movements were captured on a security camera as he entered the lounge’s bathroom area that evening, where he was eventually found.
The autopsy report, as shared by the outlet, indicates that he suffered from heart failure as caused by coronary atherosclerosis. Cathay has offered no clarification as to why Chan lay undiscovered for almost 18 hours. Offering a statement to the outlet, the airline said, “Out of respect for the parties involved, we will not be commenting on the specifics of the incident.”
Authorities at SFO have further clarified that this lounge area is the responsibility of the airline and not the airport.
Malcolm Yeung, of the airport’s commission, further explained, adding, “From the airport’s perspective–we typically to leave it up to the airlines to manage the situation whenever the passengers don’t actually board the flight.”
(Source: Stanford biography)
[Image Source: Cathay Pacific]
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"Search for every late passenger in every lounge and restaurant?" You might have a very valid point KLBGO, if it we did not considered Dr Ming was a premium passenger (First Class lounge) and SFO is not the base airport for CX. I mean the flight might leave on time and without the passenger (and the baggage to be offloaded) but a security search would start immediately, unless Dr. Ming was a US citizen.
So a passenger goes through security, enters the lounge, does not board the flight and authorities let him go errand through the terminal for 18 hours in this age of paranoid security, especially in the USA? Do we have the whole picture here or rather is something missing? RIP Dr Ming :-(
When he became a no show for his flight, they must have assumed he had left the lounge without the staff noticing. Makes you wonder if being discovered earlier might have saved his life. Hard to believe they do not check the lavatories before closing for the night but here's the proof clear as day. Some Asian customers will now regard this lounge as inhabited by a ghost if they know about this.
As someone that has operated businesses with bathrooms that need to be looked after--even 18hrs is too long for a bathroom check. Plus, there should be alarm buttons in the bathrooms for this sort of thing just like in certain public restrooms. RIP Mr. Chan.
UKTroll wins!