Man Dies on Flight to Salt Lake City, Army Medic Tried to Save Him

A passenger aboard a flight from Denver to Salt Lake City died Sunday despite efforts by an army medic to save his life, KSL TV reports.

Salt Lake City International Airport spokeswoman Barbara Gann confirmed the death on Monday adding that it occured on United Flight 5596. Passengers who witnessed the man's death say they did everything they could to revive him.

Among them was Army Reserve combat medic Jared Noall, who told reporters that roughly 20-minutes before the plane landed he noticed a man two rows back who was snoring loudly as he slept. Noall added that the snoring stopped when the man shifted in his seat and that no one thought much of it.

But when the flight touched down in Salt Lake City, Noall looked at the man and immediately knew something was horribly wrong.

"You could tell something was wrong. I asked, 'Hey, sir, are you awake?' " Noall said. "I shook him a bit, trying to see if I could get a response out of him. We checked his throat for a pulse, and it wasn't there, so we laid him down in the aisle and start CPR." 

Noall and two other passengers took turns performing CPR on the man until paramedics arrived. The passenger was pronounced dead a half hour later.

 "Everyone came together to try to help, though. We did what we could," Noall said.

"They tried their very best; the family of the deceased man would be glad to know he did everything possible to revive him."  said a passenger who witnessed the efforts by Noall and others.

Noall described the man as being in his thirties. Airport officials have not released the man's identity and would not comment any further citing privacy issues.