An airline traveler has spoken of his shock after cabin staff sat him next to the body of a fellow passenger who had died during the flight.

Flight attendants placed the body of a woman who died during a 14-hour flight in a seat next to a couple from Australia.

Compassion and discretion are the watch words for flight attendants when a passenger dies during a flight.

Qatar Airways is defending the decision to leave a husband a wife sitting next to a dead passenger on a 15-hour flight, insisting Friday that its crew “acted quickly, appropriately and professionally.

Qatar Airways says an internal review has found that its crew "acted quickly, appropriately and professionally" when they placed the body of a woman who died mid-flight next to an Australian couple.

Qatar Airways defends leaving dead body next to couple on flight for several hours - Staff acted ‘at all times in line with training and industry standard practice’, said the airline

As part of its internal review. Qatar Airways found crew had acted "quickly, appropriately and professionally" when they decided to put the deceased woman's body in a seat for the last four hours of a

Mitchell Ring and Jennifer Colin were travelling on a Qatar Airways flight from Melbourne to Venice, Italy, when a fellow passenger reportedly collapsed and passed away. The couple claimed that the cabin crew instructed them to remain in their seats next to the body for the remaining four hours of the flight.

The passenger was on the Qatar Airways plane for Doha, Qatar, when she collapsed in the aisle, scenes described as "pretty heartbreaking to watch" by other shocked tourists

Qatar Airways crew unable to move large passenger’s body to business class after mid-flight death. The couple was forced to remain on the aircraft while medical services attended to the deceased passenger after landing.

The couple was on a Qatar Airways flight from Australia to Qatar. The airline apologized for the incident in a statement.