Dubai:
An Indian pilot with Qatar Airways died mid-flight due to a massive heart attack when the plane carrying 260 passengers was on its way to Doha from Manila, forcing the co-pilot to make emergency landing at the Kuala Lumpur airport.
Ajay Kukreja, 43, who had been working with the airline for five years, was flying QR645 passenger plane when the tragedy struck on Wednesday.
When Kukreja complained of chest pain, the co-pilot requested permission from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) authorities to land and asked that a medical team be on hand, 'The Peninsula' reported.
The passengers on board were not told about the pilot's condition, the report said, adding that he was declared dead after the flight landed at KLIA.
The entire crew of the plane was then changed and it continued on its journey leaving Kuala Lumpur at 1.15 pm and landing in Doha at 3.37pm, more than four-and-a-half hours behind schedule.
Kukreja's body was taken to Serdang Hospital in Kuala Lumpur for a post-mortem. Reports said he died of a massive cardiac arrest.
Sources close to his family in Doha told the newspaper he had no past history of heart problems. However, he was asthmatic and always carried an inhaler.
His body will be flown to Mumbai directly from Kuala Lumpur and Qatar Airways is also making arrangements to bring his family over.
Kukreja's parents lived in Mumbai, though he was from Delhi. He had married a woman from Goa and the couple had two children, a 13-year-old boy and a 10-year-old girl.
He had been living in Doha and working with Qatar Airways for five years.
A Qatar Airways official reportedly visited his wife to break the tragic news of her husband's sudden death.