His girlfriend, Vanessa Preechakul, 27, told The New Zealand Herald how she sat next to his body for the duration of the flight. A doctor on board pronounced Mr Rippingale dead 90 minutes after take-off. "One minute we were sitting next to each other kissing, holding hands and the next minute he was choking," Ms Preechakul said at his funeral, yesterday. She said Mr Rippingale was eating his beef dinner while watching a movie when she noticed him shaking, but at first she didn't realise anything was wrong. "I thought he was laughing very hard, then I looked at his face and his eyes were rolling and he couldn't talk. His lips were turning purple," she said.

She said a doctor and two nurses on board were unable to save him. The pair met in Singapore, where Mr Rippingale had lived and worked for three years. I could see a doctor doing CPR for around 10 minutes – then I just heard the scream from the partner of the man. They were going to New Zealand to meet his family and to celebrate his parents' 50th birthdays. Mr Rippingdale's father David said he had a pre-exisiting heart condition and are awaiting autopsy results.

"The police told us he choked on the food on his flight, but he had a heart problem so we think it might have been that. He was born with a hole in his heart and had that fixed when he was six, and he's had the valves done a couple of times since then," Mr Rippingdale told The New Zealand Herald. "We're just waiting for the answers now." Mr Wilson said passengers were "visibly shaken and very shocked" by what occurred. "I could see a doctor doing CPR for around 10 minutes – then I just heard the scream from the partner of the man." A few minutes later there was a call across the speaker system that told passengers the crew were asking their base in Melbourne for advice on whether to land or not.

"What surprised me was the plane didn't immediately divert, the general practice for an airline is to land as soon as possible if there is a medical emergency and, in this case, [we] were surrounded by places you could land. "It's a very busy part of the world – there's Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. We weren't mid-Atlantic." Mr Wilson said passengers were disturbed by what had happened – especially since some were served their meals straight afterwards. Mr Wilson said he would rather have had the money offered by the airline spent on turning the aircraft around. "I'm not against Jetstar and I think the cabin crew managed it very well. I just feel incredibly sad for the deceased and his partner, and I feel that going back to Singapore would have been a lot more appropriate."

But a Jetstar spokesman said it was Ms Preechakul who asked for the flight to continue to Auckland. Jetstar subsequently contacted passengers who were sitting nearby to thank them for their understanding of what would have been an "upsetting situation for them". "They were offered a discount on future travel as a small acknowledgement of this." Civil Aviation Authority communication manager Bill Sommer said there were no guidelines or laws on how pilots should act in such an emergency. St John Ambulance training officer Peter Achatz said the correct first-aid could mean the difference between life and death in a choking case, but the condition was often mistreated.

Contrary to popular belief, the Heimlich manoeuvre should not be used on a person who is choking. "It has never been in the Australian resuscitation guidelines; the only reason people in Australia practise it is because they see it in US TV shows," Mr Achatz said. Mr Achatz said the procedure could cause cracks in the ribs or sternum. Instead, he said people who were choking should be encouraged to try to breathe deeply and, if that doesn't work, alternating five blows from the heel of the palm between the shoulderblades with five "chest thrusts". Mr Achatz also had advice for the person who is choking: don't hide.

"A person who is choking should avoid wandering off into a bathroom to save themselves from embarrassment, that is how you die quietly." Stuff.co.nz, DPA and Alicia Wood Loading St John guidelines for First Aid for choking

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