Chris Neill, 40, was flying back from holiday with his two children when he took ill on the Jet2 flight from Burgas, Bulgaria, to Liverpool John Lennon Airport
The family of a father who tragically passed away on a Jet2 flight to Liverpool John Lennon Airport is now raising funds to bring his body home after the flight was forced to land in Germany. The flight, which departed from Burgas, Bulgaria, around 1pm local time on Monday, September 16, had to make an emergency landing in Cologne, Germany, due to a passenger experiencing a suspected cardiac arrest.
It has since been revealed that the passenger was Chris Neill, 40, who was returning from holiday with his children when he suffered the medical episode. During the flight, he was moved to the front of the plane and given an oxygen mask before the plane landed.
After landing, Chris managed to walk off the plane and down the steps onto the runway. However, before he reached the concrete, the Runcorn father-of-two collapsed, believed to have suffered a severe heart attack. By the time he was taken into the waiting ambulance, he had sadly passed away.
Chris’s father, Mal Neill, flew to Germany the next day to collect his grandchildren, Reece, 19, and Archie, eight, following the incident. He then sent them back to the UK while he liaised with the coroner, reports .
Speaking to the Liverpool Echo a week after the tragic event, Mal explained how Chris believed he had travel insurance through his bank, Halifax, but it had actually expired. This means the family is now urgently fundraising to repatriate Chris’s body back to the UK.
Devastated Mal has recounted the chilling events: “On the flight back he felt ill and they didn’t know what was wrong. They landed in Germany on their way back and as he was helped down the stairs he collapsed. He was dead when they got him in the ambulance.
“His eldest son rang Chris’s mum to tell her what happened and I flew out as soon as possible. I can’t praise Jet2 enough for how they dealt with it all. The kids were taken off the flight and Jet2 put them up in a hotel and tried to find them a flight home the next day.
“I went straight to Manchester Airport because I live in Morecambe and just asked for the first flight out to Germany, they didn’t have any flights to Cologne so I flew to Dusseldorf. I then went to Cologne and managed to get Reece and Archie back to the UK while I stayed out there to try and sort things out.”
Mal, aged 68 and a retired Merseyside Police officer, lovingly reflected on Chris who hailed from Ellesmere Port and later moved to Runcorn, saying: “He was a staunch Everton fan and brought his children up as Everton fans. He lived life to the full and he was bubbly. He was 6ft 4in and went to the gym every day, he was massive. He lived for his children and when I was going through photos for the GoFundMe there are so many of him and his sons.”
Ending on a heartfelt note, Mal added, “He was full of fun, bubbly, he would do anything for anybody. I know people say that when someone dies but he would have. He was really liked by everyone.”
His family are now fundraising for his repatriation, with Mal and his family estimating it would cost as much as £15,000 to pay for coroner bills in Germany, the repatriation and for his funeral in England. For more information or to donate, click here.
