PACKAGES have been found in the body of man who died on an Aer Lingus flight, it has been reported.
A post-mortem examination on the body of a 24-year old Brazilian man who died on the flight from Lisbon to Dublin on Sunday was carried out after the mid air drama.
A number of packages recovered from the man's body during the examination were sent for forensic analysis.
Gardaí are continuing to question a 44-year-old woman who was also on the flight.
The post mortem was conducted at Cork University Hospital by Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margot Bolster.
It was completed on Monday evening.
During the examination a number of packages were recovered from the man's body.
RTÉ News reported that at least one of them was ruptured.
A passenger earlier spoke of the "violent death" of the man who suffered an apparent seizure and collapsed, forcing the Aer Lingus service to divert to Cork Airport.
A Portuguese woman was arrested on suspicion of drugs offences after the flight landed when a quantity of amphetamines was discovered.
It is not clear if her arrest is linked to the man's death, but gardai are investigating if the woman was travelling with the dead man.
John Leonard from Cork was on the flight and described the scene after the man first appeared to suffer a seizure and then had to be restrained at the back of the plane before collapsing.
"Horrible. I would say a very violent end - to die that way in the back of an aeroplane, it's not right. It was not very pleasant at all," he said.
One man who attempted to restrain the dying passenger was bitten on the arm.
Mr Leonard told PJ Coogan's Opinion Line on Cork's 96fm two nurses and a doctor tried to resuscitate the man.
The captain of the flight had asked if there were any medics on board.
"After that it got worse I would say, his seizure seemed to get worse. He was actually on the ground shaking violently," Mr Leonard said.
"The noise he was making was like something I have never heard before.
"It's not something you'd hear everyday. It was like deep anguish is the best way I could describe it, very, very troubled. Not screaming in a sense you know if you'd hurt yourself or something, just a very guttural, from deep within him."
The other 167 passengers on flight EI485 were kept on board for two hours after it landed at 5.40pm before being interviewed by gardai and offered bus transfers to Dublin.
Mr Leonard said passengers remained "extraordinarily calm" but were in shock following the incident.
Aer Lingus described the incident as a "medical emergency".
