The Prosecutor General's Office announced on Monday that an inquiry has been opened into the death of a 24-year-old newlywed in Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport after what news reports claim was a 1 1/2-hour wait for an ambulance.
Prosecutors announced the inquiry on Monday, a day after news emerged that Deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets had ordered the government to investigate the circumstances surrounding the young man's death.
Artyom Chechikov and his bride were returning from their honeymoon in Barcelona to their home in Chelyabinsk in the Urals, when the 24-year-old went into what appeared to be cardiac arrest while aboard an AirEurope flight, Gazeta.ru reported Saturday.
An experienced emergency physician happened to be on board and provided CPR, as well as oxygen from the airplane's medical kits, while the plane was cleared for emergency landing at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport, the report said.
Sheremetyevo's medical team showed up 15 minutes after landing but had no equipment to help the man, various Russian media outlets have said, citing passengers' social media accounts.
An ambulance was called but reportedly took more than an hour to arrive, even though the incident took place in the early hours of the morning before traffic jams clog Moscow's roads.
Chechikov died in the airport.
Transportation prosecutors on Monday said they would investigate the actions of the relevant airport services and the comprehensiveness of medical services rendered — including the availability of necessary medical equipment, according to the statement released by the Prosecutor General's Office.
Also, health professionals who tended the ill-fated groom will be subjected to drug tests, and their professional qualifications will be examined.
On Sunday, ITAR-Tass reported that Golodets had ordered the Health and Transportation ministries to determine whether witness accounts posted on social media and cited in news reports were accurate, and to improve services to prevent similar tragedies in the future, her spokesman Alexei Levchenko said.
"The agencies will have to determine whether ambulance teams were unable to arrive on time and provide help and, if this information is corroborated, to determine the reasons and to take steps to increase the effectiveness of providing help in similar cases," he told ITAR-Tass.
The airport has also begun an internal investigation into the incident, which took place last Monday, but was not previously reported. Chechikov's widow, Yelena, plans to sue the airport, Rossiiskaya Gazeta reported.
See also:
Newlywed Dies in Russian Airport 'After Hourlong Wait for Help'
