Baby dies in arms of passenger on AirAsia flight from Kuala Lumpur to Perth

A two-month-old baby has died in the arms of a fellow passenger following a medical emergency onboard an AirAsia flight from Kuala Lumpur to Perth.

The child had been on the AirAsia flight D7236 with her Saudi parents, according to another passenger, Perth woman Nadia Parenzee, who said the baby had died in her arms.

“Flying home from Malaysia this morning I encountered the most confronting situation one could possibly go through,” Parenzee said in a Facebook post. “I had a newborn baby take her last dying breath in my arms.”

Parenzee said in the post that an air hostess had asked her to hold the baby, who was restless and crying from take off.

“I offered the parents and the staff some assistance as I could see that the new parents were stressed,” she said.

“As I closed my eyes to catch some sleep the AirAsia hostess tapped me on the shoulder to help her. The parents offered the baby to me with desperation in their eyes I took her in my arms and immediately read Surah Fatiha.

“Then baby Farah took her last breath and went limp. I immediately knew something was horribly wrong and shouted out to the passengers to see if there were any doctors on board.”

Parenzee said efforts were made to resuscitate the child for about two and a half hours. “My heart is numb and I don’t know how to feel but I am honestly honoured to have held her and read a prayer on her before she passed,” she said.

An AirAsia spokesman said the plane was met by police and paramedics when it arrived at Perth airport on Monday morning.

“The safety and wellbeing of our guests is always our number one priority, and in accordance with procedure, the flight crew requested medical assistance on landing,” he said.

“Our thoughts are with the infant and family involved.”

Police say a report will be prepared for the coroner.