United flight lands in Houston with deceased passenger aboard

A male passenger en route to Houston from Lagos, Nigeria, died on a United Airlines flight that landed in Houston, according to the Houston Police Department.

United Flight 143 arrived at George Bush Intercontinental Airport early Tuesday morning.

Benedict Sylvester Igwedike, 67, of Lagos, Nigeria, was found dead on the plane.

HPD Homicide Division Senior Police Officer M. Miller reports that Igwedike died in the air after the flight left Lagos. After refueling in Dakar, Senegal, the flight was then sent on to Houston.

Houston police are awaiting autopsy results to determine the exact cause of death, according to a press release.

Late last month, a woman traveling to Houston from Qatar to seek medical treatment died en route.

As previously reported, Fatimah M. Alsiari, 49, a citizen of Saudi Arabia, died a few hours into the nonstop flight from Doha, Qatar, said Houston Police Department spokeswoman Jodi Silva.



A physician on Qatar Airways Flight QR077 tended to the woman but could not save her, Silva had said.