Man forced to sit next to corpse for hours after passenger dies on long-haul flight

When Mitchell Ring and Jennifer Colin saw spare seats on their flight from Melbourne to Doha, they thought they'd lucked out.

But a dream trip to Venice quickly turned to a nightmare when a passenger died whilst in the air.

The crew decided to put the dead passenger's body in Ring and Colin's row for the remaining four hours of the flight.

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Mitchell Ring spent four hours sat in the same row as the deceased woman. (Nine)

The couple said they were traumatised by the incident, which unfolded when a woman walked out of the bathroom and collapsed next to their row.

"Unfortunately the lady couldn't be saved, which was pretty heartbreaking to watch," Ring said.

"They tried to wheel her up towards business class, but she was quite a large lady and they couldn't get her through the aisle.

"They looked a bit frustrated, then they just looked at me and saw seats were available beside me, my wife was on the other side, we were in a row of four.

"They said, 'Can you move over please?' and I just said, 'Yes no problem'.

"Then they placed the lady in the chair I was in."

The pair said they were traumatised by the incident. (Nine)

The couple claims cabin crew did not offer them a different seat to move to, with a passenger in the row behind them instead offering a spare seat to nervous-flyer Colin.

"There were a few spare seats I could see around us," Ring said.

Ring spent the remaining hours of the flight in the same row as the corpse, saying he was told to stay seated as medical crews took off blankets covering the body after the plane landed.

"I can't believe they told us to stay … it wasn't nice," he said.

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The couple said they were traumatised by the incident, which unfolded when a woman walked out of the bathroom and collapsed next to their row. (Nine)

The couple said they have not been offered any support from Qatar Airways.

"They have a duty of care towards their customers as well as their staff, we should be contacted to make sure, do you need some support, do you need some counselling," Ring said.

"I don't really know how I feel and would like to speak to somebody to make sure I'm alright."

Colin said the pair was now trying to make the best of their Italian holiday of a lifetime.

"I'm trying to make the best of a pretty hard situation, but, you know, we're on holidays so we're really trying to have a good time," she said.

Since A Current Affair spoke to the pair, Qatar Airways says it is looking into the situation.

Qantas, which the couple booked the flight through, said it will speak directly to the couple.

"Ms Colin booked tickets through Qantas and travelled with Qatar Airways, a fellow Oneworld Alliance carrier," a spokesperson said.

"The process for handling incidents onboard an aircraft like this is managed by the operating airline, which in this case is Qatar Airways."

In a statement, Qatar Airways said it was in the process of contacting impacted passengers.

"First and foremost our thoughts are with the family of the passenger who sadly passed away on board our flight," A Qatar Airways spokesperson said.

"We apologise for any inconvenience or distress this incident may have caused, and are in the process of contacting passengers in line with our policies and procedures."