The pilot of a UTair flight from Bangkok to Novosibirsk died of sudden heart failure three hours after takeoff, and the plane was landed successfully by the co-pilot, Life News reported Friday.

A doctor on board the Boeing 757 attempted to revive the pilot, Sergei Golyov, 44, but was unsuccessful.

A spokesperson for Tolmachyovo Airport in Novosibirsk told Life News that Golyov was flying as a passenger on the overnight flight, not as one of the plane's pilots. An investigator said the doctor's attempts to save Golyov's life took place in the cockpit.

The co-pilot decided to make an emergency landing in China to get medical assistance for Golyov, but the pilot died before the plane made its descent, the report said. The plane continued to its original destination, landing Friday morning. No one on board the flight was injured.

(MT)