OFW kills self on Gulf Air flight

MANILA, Philippines - A Filipino power plant technician working in Dubai hanged himself inside the lavatory of a Gulf Air flight from Bahrain to Manila yesterday.

Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) doctor Ma. Theresa Azores identified the victim as Marlon Cueva, 36, married, from Lubang, Occidental Mindoro. He hanged himself using a nylon cord from his jacket.

Flight GF 154 landed at 11:13 a.m. and remains parked at the tarmac. It was not able to leave for its 12:20 p.m. flight.

The remains of Cueva were brought to the ramp clinic of the Manila

International Airport Authority (MIAA) after police completed their survey of the crime scene.

According to the passenger manifest, Cueva occupied seat number 47H.

Fellow passenger Abdul Jabar, an information technology expert from Basilan, said that once the plane was on cruising altitude, the victim went around asking passengers for forgiveness.

 Jabar said Cuevas kept saying. "Please forgive me for all my sins."

He said the victim, who wore a blue shirt and a black jacket, went around the plane and asked every passenger for forgiveness until a stewardess asked him to go back to his seat.

"Most of us were already asleep while the others were so sleepy so we did not pay much attention. The others thought he was a terrorist so they were afraid," he said.

An hour before landing, Cueva went to the lavatory. The attendant became alarmed when Cueva failed to return to his seat after repeated announcement that all passengers should be in their seats for landing.

Cueva was found dead when the lavatory door was forced open.

The attendants called for a doctor on board. When nobody answered the call, one of the cabin crew attempted to revive Cueva by pumping his chest. Another stewardess attempted to revive him through mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

Gulf Air chief of security Leoncio Nakpil said the crew members are trained to give first aid to passengers in case of emergencies.

Investigators said Cueva tied one end of the cord to the lavatory ceiling then dropped himself from a standing position on the toilet bowl.

Cueva's wife Vilma said her husband called her from Dubai to tell her he would be arriving yesterday.

His brother Boy said Cueva did not hint at a problem. "My brother asked us to meet him at the airport, there was no indication at all that he has a problem," Boy said.

Airport manager Jose Angel Honrado said Cueva's body would be brought to Camp Crame for autopsy.