A 15-YEAR-old boy died yesterday after he took ill on an aircraft which was bound from Dublin for the United States.
The aircraft made an emergency landing at Shannon airport but the boy had already died by the time it landed.
US Airways flight 723, which had earlier departed from Dublin for Philadelphia, was just over half an hour into its seven-hour journey when the boy, believed to be from Monaghan, complained of feeling unwell.
The captain of the Airbus jet, which was carrying 163 passengers and crew, sought permission to divert to Shannon, which was the nearest airport at the time.
On arrival at Shannon at 11.20am a doctor and ambulance crew met the aircraft and examined the boy, who is understood to have suffered from a rare muscular condition.
The boy's body was removed to the Mid-Western Regional Hospital in Limerick.
It is understood that the boy and his family were on their way to Philadelphia, from where they were expected to take a connecting flight to Florida, where they planned to visit Disneyland.
A Shannon airport spokesman confirmed: "The aircraft was en route from Dublin to Philadelphia and arrived here at 11.20 local time and departed at 13.50.
"It was just half an hour into the flight when the diversion was activated."
A HSE spokesperson confirmed that an ambulance was sent to Shannon airport to meet the diverted aircraft but that a 15-year-old male had already died by the time the aircraft had landed.