Air India flight makes unscheduled landing to pick up a HUMAN HEART and deliver it to hospital for urgent transplant

• Unscheduled landing occurred in Madurai after original flight was delayed
• Harvested heart belonged to a man who died after a road accident 
• Human organ was rushed to a hospital minutes after the plane landed
• Doctor said transplant was successful and the recipient ‘is doing well’ 

An Air India plane was forced to make an unscheduled stop in the southern part of the country to pick up a human heart so it could be rushed to a hospital.

The unusual landing occurred in the city of Madurai after the flight that was supposed to transport the heart to Chennai, on India’s eastern coast, was delayed.

The harvested organ belonged to a 29-year-old man, who was declared brain dead and died in a Madurai hospital after he was involved in a car accident.

The delivery was in danger of not arriving at a hospital in time had the Delhi-based airline not voluntarily diverted yesterday’s flight from Kochi to Chennai, the Times of Oman reported.

When the plane touched down the heart was taken away in a private ambulance and rushed to the hospital, where it was transplanted into a 48-year-old man from the city of Pune, The Hindu reported.