A 70-year-old man, who complained of chest pain and uneasiness on board an Air India flight from Vancouver to Delhi on Friday night, was deboarded in Kolkata and rushed to a hospital, where he was declared dead on arrival, airport sources said.

The deceased was identified as Dalbir Singh, who hailed from Delhi. After Singh complained of feeling unwell on board the AI 186 flight, which has a stopover in Kolkata, the cabin crew immediately informed the pilot, who in turn informed the airport authorities. Singh was de-boarded around 9.15 pm, following which the flight left for Delhi at 10.10 pm with the remaining passengers, airport sources said.

Air India has yet to issue an official statement on the incident.

“We heard that he was saying that he was having trouble breathing and was having chest pains. Whether he had any medical issues or not is not known,” a senior airport official said.

According to police sources, Singh’s family has been informed. His body has been taken to R G Kar Hospital, where a post-mortem will be conducted, following which it will be handed over to the family after verification of documents, the sources added.

A similar incident had occurred on the same flight in June this year. With 162 passengers and crew on board, the flight had landed in Kolkata for its scheduled technical halt and took off for Delhi. After being airborne for more than 25 minutes, the aircraft had to return and make a precautionary landing as a female passenger fell ill, an Air India official had said then. After deplaning the sick passenger, the aircraft left for Delhi. It was later learnt that the passenger was declared dead on arrival at the hospital.