{"id":539,"date":"2026-05-12T11:37:35","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T11:37:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/2026\/05\/12\/woman-dies-during-flight-from-chicago-to-mexico-after-experiencing-midair-medical-emergency\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T11:37:35","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T11:37:35","slug":"woman-dies-during-flight-from-chicago-to-mexico-after-experiencing-midair-medical-emergency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/2026\/05\/12\/woman-dies-during-flight-from-chicago-to-mexico-after-experiencing-midair-medical-emergency\/","title":{"rendered":"Woman Dies During Flight from Chicago to Mexico After Experiencing Midair Medical Emergency"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The pilot made an emergency landing in Monterrey shortly after crossing into Mexican airspace<\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/people.com\/thmb\/Nl5jfhv6uArEbHJV3z7R9_SDY1w=\/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(jpeg)\/volaris-airbus-051226-31cf37523f3b479ea9bd743658602c48.jpg\" alt=\"Volaris Airbus A320 (stock photo)Credit: Kevin Carter\/Getty\" title=\"A Volaris airlines Airbus A320 airplane\" \/><figcaption><i>Volaris Airbus A320 (stock photo)<br \/>Credit: Kevin Carter\/Getty<\/i><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3>NEED TO KNOW<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>A 72-year-old passenger died on a Volaris flight from Chicago to Mexico on Saturday, May 9<\/li>\n<li>The flight was scheduled to land at General Francisco Mujica International Airport in the state of Michoac\u00e1n, but made an emergency landing in Monterrey<\/li>\n<li>The passenger, who was traveling with her husband, had been living with kidney failure and diabetes for about 12 years<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A 72-year-old passenger died on a flight from Chicago to Mexico over the weekend, according to reports.<\/p>\n<p>Volaris flight 7771 left Chicago Midway International Airport at 3:13 p.m. local time on Saturday, May 9, according to <a class=\"null\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flightradar24.com\/data\/flights\/y47771#3f9e621a\" data-component=\"link\" data-source=\"inlineLink\" data-type=\"externalLink\" data-ordinal=\"1\" rel=\"null\">FlightRadar<\/a>, and was scheduled to land at General Francisco Mujica International Airport in the Mexican state of Michoac\u00e1n.<\/p>\n<p>The airline told <a class=\"null\" href=\"https:\/\/abc7chicago.com\/amp\/post\/person-dies-volaris-flight-7771-chicago-midway-airport-michoacan-mexico-emergency-landing-made-monterrey\/19083762\/\" data-component=\"link\" data-source=\"inlineLink\" data-type=\"externalLink\" data-ordinal=\"1\" rel=\"null\">ABC7<\/a> that the pilot had to make an emergency landing at Monterrey International Airport after the passenger, named as identified as Mar\u00eda Yolando Guerrero Medina, experienced a medical emergency.<\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/people.com\/thmb\/k5gQK13qsoIgZzyuq69zBall5EY=\/fit-in\/1280x960\/monterrey-international-airport-mariano-escobedo-051226-17f5712894784b2e85f381a5435b2736.jpg\" alt=\"Monterrey International Airport (stock photo)Credit: Alfredo Lopez\/LatinContent via Getty\" title=\"View of Monterrey International Airport Mariano Escobedo\" \/><figcaption><i>Monterrey International Airport (stock photo)<br \/>Credit: Alfredo Lopez\/LatinContent via Getty<\/i><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Per Spanish-language network <a class=\"null\" href=\"https:\/\/www.univision.com\/local\/chicago-wgbo\/mujer-fallecida-en-vuelo-de-chicago-a-mexico-padecia-enfermedades-cronicas\" data-component=\"link\" data-source=\"inlineLink\" data-type=\"externalLink\" data-ordinal=\"1\" rel=\"null\">Univision<\/a> and Monterrey-based newspaper <a class=\"null\" href=\"https:\/\/www.elnorte.com\/muerte-y-falla-causan-2-aterrizajes-de-emergencia\/ar3201724\" data-component=\"link\" data-source=\"inlineLink\" data-type=\"externalLink\" data-ordinal=\"2\" rel=\"nofollow\"><em>El Norte<\/em><\/a>, the passenger, who was traveling with her husband, was taken ill as the plane was entering Mexican airspace.<\/p>\n<p>Other passengers alerted the crew to her condition, and the captain asked authorities for authorization to make an unscheduled landing, Univision reported.<\/p>\n<p>The plane landed at 5:24 p.m. local time, per <a class=\"null\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flightaware.com\/live\/flight\/VOI7771\/history\/20260509\/1942Z\/KMDW\/MMMM\" data-component=\"link\" data-source=\"inlineLink\" data-type=\"externalLink\" data-ordinal=\"1\" rel=\"null\">FlightAware<\/a>, and medical and security staff were waiting on the runway. However, Guerrero Medina was pronounced dead shortly after landing, per ABC7.<\/p>\n<p>The plane was replaced with another aircraft to allow the other passengers to reach their destination, the outlet reported.<\/p>\n<p>According to Univision, Guerrero Medina was from the city of Morelia in Michoac\u00e1n and had been living with kidney failure and diabetes for about 12 years.<\/p>\n<p>PEOPLE reached out to Volaris and Monterrey International Airport for comment, but did not immediately hear back.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Never miss a story \u2014 sign up for <\/strong><a class=\"in-cell-link\" href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/people-news-daily-newsletter-sign-up-8692701\" data-component=\"link\" data-source=\"inlineLink\" data-type=\"internalLink\" data-ordinal=\"1\" rel=\"null\"><strong>PEOPLE&#8217;s free daily newsletter<\/strong><\/a><strong> to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer\u200b\u200b, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>According to <em>El Norte<\/em>, the incident was the first of two emergency landings at the airport over the weekend.<\/p>\n<p>On Sunday, May 10, a pilot flying a United Airlines plane heading to Houston from Los Cabos in Baja California Sur performed circling maneuvers minutes after takeoff before requesting authorization to land in Monterrey.<\/p>\n<p>Per the <a class=\"null\" href=\"https:\/\/www.houstonchronicle.com\/news\/houston-texas\/article\/united-flight-579-diversion-22252492.php\" data-component=\"link\" data-source=\"inlineLink\" data-type=\"externalLink\" data-ordinal=\"1\" rel=\"null\"><em>Houston Chronicle,<\/em><\/a> the emergency landing was due to a mechanical issue.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The pilot made an emergency landing in Monterrey shortly after crossing into Mexican airspace Volaris Airbus A320 (stock photo)Credit: Kevin Carter\/Getty NEED TO KNOW A 72-year-old passenger died on a Volaris flight from Chicago to Mexico on Saturday, May 9 The flight was scheduled to land at General Francisco Mujica International Airport in the state [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-539","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-everything-else"],"wpmagazine_modules_lite_featured_media_urls":{"thumbnail":"","cvmm-medium":"","cvmm-medium-plus":"","cvmm-portrait":"","cvmm-medium-square":"","cvmm-large":"","cvmm-small":"","full":""},"categories_names":{"1":{"name":"Everything Else","link":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/category\/everything-else\/"}},"tags_names":[],"comments_number":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=539"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}