Man’s body stranded for two days in cargo hold after Delta flight was diverted to wrong airport

A HEARTBROKEN family have finally buried their son after the cargo plane carrying his body was sent to the wrong airport and got stranded for two days.

Bryant Lee Raburn died of leukaemia at his parent’s home in Raleigh, North Carolina, but the 31-year-old’s remains were due to return to his home town of Nashville, Tennessee for the funeral.

facebook

Bryant Lee Raburn died of leukaemia at his parent’s home[/caption]

Alamy

The cargo plane carrying his body was diverted to Salt Lake City airport[/caption]

However, after a bout of bad weather, the Delta cargo jet carrying his body was diverted to Salt Lake City where it was stuck for two days causing significant distress for his family and friends.

The airline had been struggling to get flights back on schedule after severe storms caused flight delays and cancellations in Atlanta.

“If you’ve never lost a child, it’s a different hurt,” said his step-dad David Rhodes.

Raburn spent the last weeks of his life with his mother and stepfather in Raleigh.

Mr Rhodes told WTVF-TV that his son’s remains were due to fly to Detroit and then on to Nashville. However, the flight was diverted to Salt Lake City.

Rhodes said: “I was stonewalled by Delta at every turn.”

He said he was forced to spend the night before his son’s memorial in Nashville Airport working on a way of getting the body to the city in time for last Sunday’s service.

Luckily, officials found a flight which carried Raburn’s remains to the airport with minutes to spare before the service was due to begin.

Rhodes said: “We wanted time to see him before the service started, but now we won’t have that. It seems minor, but it’s not.

“I just want Delta to review their policies, tighten them up, and know when human remains are involved they need to be monitored more closely. It’s time sensitive.”

facebook

Bryant’s body arrived just before his funeral service started[/caption]

facebook

Bryant (right) died after a four-year battle[/caption]

He told AJC.com: “If you’ve never lost a child, it’s a different hurt. We were there with him. I performed CPR on him until EMS got there. But he ended up passing away … he was gone.”

Delta has apologised for the incident: “Delta worked directly with the family to ensure their son’s remains were delivered expeditiously and have offered continued support to make this right.

“We apologise for the disruption and any added burden this may have caused during an already difficult for the family.”