Andrey Suchilin, Whose Foul Odor Forced Emergency Landing, Dies Of Tissue Necrosis

A man whose stench forced a passenger jet to make an emergency landing in Portugal died from tissue necrosis on June 25. His condition worsened with the infection spreading to his kidneys, heart and lungs.

Andrey Suchilin, a 58-year-old Russian rock musician, smelled so strongly that one of the passengers complained of nausea and allegedly began to faint. The incident took place in a Transavia Airlines flight from Spain to the Netherlands on May 29 and the plane was forced to make a landing in Portugal.

Suchilin contracted the infection while on vacation in Spanish island of Gran Canaria that caused body tissues to die, resulting in the odor.

In a Facebook post on May 30, he wrote, “The tragic and comic component of this whole situation is that I caught a disease, which (let’s not say how and why) makes a man quite stinky,” adding that his health insurance had expired and he was in the country (Spain) with no “money, consulate support and medical care.”

Later, Lidia, his wife, wrote on Facebook that he was given antibiotics for ordinary beach infection when he had sought medical attention before leaving Spain. She even sought her friends' help to raise money for her husband's medical bills as he was in intensive care and his condition was critical.

On June 2, she posted that her husband was in a coma despite undergoing surgery for tissue necrosis.

After the death, Transavia Airlines issued a statement to Newsweek saying that the staff "sympathizes with the family and wish them strength in processing their loss," adding that there is no risk of infection on the flight.

Piet van Haut, a passenger had said, "It was like he hadn't washed himself for several weeks. Several passengers got sick and had to puke,” Express reported.

"The aeroplane diverted because of medical reasons, but it is indeed right that he smelled quite a bit,” a Transavia spokesperson had said. “We can confirm that on May 29th a stopover of flight HV5666 (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria - Amsterdam) has taken place on Faro (Portugal). This was a precautionary measure in relation to a passenger for medical reasons,” Fox News reported.

“Due to privacy legislation, however, we cannot disclose details about individual cases. What we can say is that our crew has acted correctly and carefully in accordance with the applicable procedures,” the spokesperson added.

The airline crew tried to keep Suchilin contained in the airplane bathroom and was removed from the flight as soon as it landed in Portugal.

Tissue necrosis is a premature death of tissues in the body due to lack of oxygen and interrupted blood supply. The malfunctioning of the tissue cells can make other body parts inactive and can also result in puncture of the cell membrane.

It occurs due to external injury or trauma in a particular organ and can also result in Skin cancer, Medanta reports.