An 8-year-old Missouri girl became “sick and unresponsive” on a SkyWest flight to Chicago on Thursday and was later pronounced dead, authorities said.
The flight departed from Joplin, Missouri, and was headed to Chicago before making an emergency landing in Peoria, Illinois.
“Her family immediately informed flight crews of her condition, and they quickly began rendering aid. When she landed in Peoria, she was not breathing and had no pulse,” according to a statement from the Peoria County Coroner’s Office.
The child was identified as Sydney Weston, of Carl Junction, Missouri, the coroner’s office said.
The plane landed at General Wayne A. Downing Peoria International Airport around 7 a.m. due to a medical emergency, the Peoria County Sheriff’s Office said on Facebook Thursday.
Emergency responders, including sheriff’s deputies and the Air National Guard, attempted “life-saving measures,” but the child was later pronounced dead at a local hospital, the sheriff’s office said.
SkyWest Airlines confirmed Friday that the child was aboard Flight 5121, operating as United Express, from Joplin to Chicago O’Hare International Airport when a passenger became ill and the flight was diverted to Peoria.
There she was “met by paramedics to attend to a passenger in medical distress. We appreciate the efforts of our crew members who responded quickly to assist and of the medical personnel who encountered the aircraft,” SkyWest said.
The girl died shortly after 8 a.m., the coroner’s office said.
“There was no evidence of foul play and no signs of abuse or neglect,” the coroner’s office said in a statement Friday.
But a preliminary autopsy was inconclusive “and was pending several investigations,” the report said.
Medical staff await histology, biopsies, cultures, blood hematology and chemistry, and toxicology tests. Results typically last four to six weeks.
“Once we complete those tests, we hope we can determine a definitive and exact cause of death for this little girl and provide her family with answers,” the coroner’s office said.
Sydney Weston’s family could not immediately be reached for comment Friday.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
