Envision being thousands of feet above ground seated inside a crowded aircraft when suddenly an in-flight medical emergency occurs. A passenger seated in the aircraft was having trouble breathing and her skin turned pale and strained. Other passengers looked on in concern but did not know how to intervene, Dr. Smita Moitra, consultant and in-charge, Emergency Department, Manipal Hospitals, Broadway in Kolkata took charge of the situation.

The incident occurred on a Kolkata-to-Delhi flight on December 6, when a 45-year-old woman from Bikaner started experiencing severe hypertensive heart failure due to a long history of high blood pressure. With the aircraft being mid-air, every second was critical. What followed was a reminder of how fragile life can be, and how human instinct and compassion can come together to make a difference in the face of crisis.