ITA Airways flight attendant dies after boarding plane in Italy

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An off-duty flight attendant for ITA Airways has died after boarding a flight that was set to take off for Rome, Italy, the airline tells Fox News Digital.

Gabriella Cario, identified by the Manchester Evening News as a 57-year-old mother of three, passed away on Saturday after she got onboard ITA Airways Flight 1156 at the Reggio Calabria Airport outside of Naples.

“Our colleague, Gabriella Cario was off duty when she died last Saturday in Reggio Calabria (South Italy). She was returning home as a passenger and died on the plane before the flight from Reggio Calabria to Rome took off,” the airline said in a statement. “The company is providing all possible support to her family.”

The Manchester Evening News reports that Cario was already feeling unwell at the boarding gate but was eager to return home to her husband and children in the Rome area. However, once inside the aircraft, her condition deteriorated and she died within minutes, it added. 

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A worker checks an ITA Airways plane at Fiumicino airport in Rome, Italy, on Sept. 2, 2024.  (Reuters/Remo Casilli)

Efforts by paramedics to revive Cario were unsuccessful and all passengers on the plane were forced to disembark, the Manchester Evening News reports. 

Her exact cause of death was not immediately clear.

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The ITA Airways plane that Cario reportedly boarded was heading from Naples to Rome, Italy. (Reuters/Remo Casilli)

Data from the website FlightAware shows that the plane, which normally departs in the late afternoon, didn’t take off from Naples until after 9 p.m. local time on Saturday night. 

“I knew Gabriella. She was a bright, always-smiling, and kind woman,” Alberto Mosca, the mayor of Cario’s hometown of Sabaudia, was quoted by the Manchester Evening News as saying. 

ITA Airways is based out of Rome, Italy. (Reuters/Remo Casilli)

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“On behalf of the administration and the entire community, I extend our heartfelt condolences to her husband and her beloved three children,” he added. 

Greg Norman is a reporter at Fox News Digital.