A Japanese man who died aboard a flight from Mexico City had ingested more than 200 drug packets and went into cardiac arrest from a drug overdose, Mexican prosecutors said.

In a statement issued by the attorney general's office for the northern state of Sonora, the passenger had swallowed 246 packets of cocaine.

The prosecutor's office said other passengers reported seeing the man convulsing in the early hours of Friday as the jetliner headed for Narita, Japan.

Authorities identified the man only as Udo "N'' and said he had travelled to Mexico's capital from Bogota, Colombia.

An autopsy was performed on the passenger following an emergency stop by the Aeromexico flight in Hermosillo.