Mexican forensic workers meet the Aeromexico plane forced to land after a Japanese man who swallowed 246 packs of cocaine died on a flight from Bogota to Tokyo. Photograph: Sonora Attorney-General

Man dies on a flight after swallowing 246 packets of cocaine

A Japanese man died on his way to Bogota to Tokyo in the Aeromexico plane, headed for Narita, Japan. The plane was carrying 198 passengers and have to make an emergency landing in northern Mexico, on Friday. 

According to the prosecutor’s office for the state of Sonora, the flight attendance noticed the 42-year-old man, identified as Udo N, began having a seizure after the flight made a stopover in Mexico City. Udo N was traveling from the Colombian capital to Mexico City, catching a flight to Japan. He suffered from convulsions and end up with requested permission to make an emergency landing. The plane landed at 2:25 am, paramedics declared Udo N deceased.

Udo N was found dead with 246 packets of cocaine in his stomach and intestines. The prosecutors said that the cause of death was swelling of the brain and went into cardiac arrest caused by drug overdose. An autopsy found the man had swallowed 246 packets of cocaine, each 1cm by 2.5cm (about one by one-third inch).

Udo N died aboard the airplane shortly after takeoff from Mexico City. The Aeromexico plane then resumed its flight to Narita, Japan after the body was removed and international protocols were carried out.