Spain Tenerife: Tourist wants to board plane with dead woman

An 80-year-old tourist on Tenerife tried to fly back home with his dead wife in a wheelchair.

Keystone-SDA

14.01.2026, 16:02

SDA

He made it to the security checkpoint at Tenerife Sur Airport last fall, as the police have only now confirmed on request. The staff there had become suspicious of the lifeless elderly woman. A member of staff was horrified to see that her hand was already very cold. An emergency doctor was only able to determine that the woman had died.

As the police found no evidence of foul play, the man was not arrested. The police were unable to say where he and his wife were from and where exactly abroad they were flying to. It was also unknown whether the man was even aware that his wife had died, a police spokeswoman said.