Inquest says blood clot killed British dad at Ibiza Airport

AN INQUEST has revealed that a British father-of-two who died minutes after stepping off a flight to Ibiza was killed by a blood clot.

Holidaymaker Paul Birchall, 51, had travelled to the island for a stag party and collapsed at San Jose Airport after texting partner Andrea Houseman, 47, to say that he had arrived safely.

Friends and a doctor aboard the Jet2 flight from Manchester tried unsuccessfully to resuscitate him.

And it has now emerged that the builder from Bolton died from a blockage in the lungs following an investigation in his home town.

It comes after Spanish medics said that Mr Birchall may have suffered from Economy Class Syndrome, in which a blood clot can form in a fliers’ leg after spending more than six hours in a seated position.

But this was ruled out by Home Office Pathologist Dr Patrick Waugh, who concluded that the deceased suffered from heart disease and was killed by a pulmonary embolism.

Speaking at the hearing in Bolton, he said: ‘This is a common condition where you develop a blood clot in your leg and that block travels all the way up to your heart and gets stuck in your lungs which obstructs blood getting to your lungs and causes you to collapse.

“In cases where clots are affected by flying, it tends to happen in long haul flights of around nine to twelve hours – this flight was no longer than three hours. He was already feeling unwell in the flight meaning that the clot had already formed.”

After the hearing Mr Birchall’s family said in a statement: “We miss Paul and just wish that he could come back, we will never get over it.

“At 6.15pm when he landed in Ibiza he texted Andrea to tell her that he loved her. He was so excited about the trip, he loved a party. If we knew he was ill we would never have let him go on that stag party. It is just such a sad story.”