Eight-year-old girl dies after medical emergency aboard flight to Chicago: Coroner

(CHICAGO) — An 8-year-old girl died after suffering a medical emergency aboard a flight to Chicago Thursday morning, which was rerouted to land in Peoria, Illinois, officials said.

The child was transferred to a local hospital where she was pronounced dead, despite emergency personnel performing life-saving measures, Peoria County Coroner’s Office said in a statement.

The coroner’s office said the child, who they identified as 8-year-old Sydney Weston from Carl Junction, Missouri, was traveling with her family on vacation when she “suddenly became ill and then unresponsive in flight.”

“Her family immediately notified the flight personnel of her condition, and they began rapidly rendering aid,” the coroner’s office said.

When the plane made an emergency landing in Peoria, “she was not breathing and had no pulse,” according to the statement.

Weston was pronounced dead at 8:05 a.m. at OSF Healthcare Saint Francis Medical Center in Peoria, the coroner’s office said.

The child’s autopsy is scheduled for Friday, according to the statement.

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