Salomon Benzimra, 70, a resident of Toronto who described himself as a lover of Israel and a Zionist activist, died of a heart attack on an El Al flight from Israel to Canada, Ynet reported. The incident took place on Tuesday morning, as flight Ly029 was on its way from Ben Gurion International Airport to Toronto, following a four-hour delay.
After a few hours in the air, the chief flight attendant announced that a doctor was needed urgently. The passengers found out later that Benzimra, who was flying with his wife, had suffered a heart attack.
Benzimra was moved to the floor of the plane’s kitchenette, where a doctor who was on the flight, assisted by the flight attendants, began resuscitation. But after 40 minutes in which the patient’s heart did not recover, he was pronounced dead, and was covered in blankets and placed behind a curtain.
One of the passengers related that the flight attendants sat crying and hugging each other after they realized there was nothing left to do, other than to care for the man’s shocked widow, who stayed by her dead husband’s body. Meanwhile, the attendants had to also care for the needs of the hundreds of passengers on board, who were all distraught by the tragic event.
