An eight-year-old girl died after suffering a medical emergency on a SkyWest flight from Joplin, Missouri, to Chicago.

According to Daily Mail, the flight diverted to Peoria, Illinois, for an emergency landing after the girl became unresponsive.

Daily Mail reports:

First-responders met the child at the General Wayne A. Downing Peoria International Airport after the plane landed but the girl was not breathing and had no pulse, according to the coroner’s office.

Sydney was rushed her to the hospital, where she was declared dead just after 8am, despite ‘aggressive resuscitative efforts.’

An autopsy is scheduled for Friday.

Sydney, from Carl Junction, Missouri, was traveling with her her parents Whitney and Dan and her older brother Evan.

The Peoria County Sheriff’s Office said: ‘When the plane landed Deputies, AMT Personnel, and Air National Guard Fire personnel immediately received the 8-year-old female child and began life-saving measures.

“Thursday, June 13th, 2024, at approximately 7:00 am, Peoria County Sheriff’s Office Deputies responded to 6100 W. Everett McKinley Dirksen Parkway on a flight landing at the Peoria International Airport for a medical emergency. The commercial flight originated from Joplin, Missouri and was intended to land in Chicago. When the plane landed Deputies, AMT Personnel, and Air National Guard Fire personnel immediately received the 8-year-old female child and began life-saving measures,” the Peoria County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.

“The child was transported to a local hospital by AMT where she was unfortunately pronounced deceased. Please keep the child’s family and everyone who was involved in this traumatic experience in your thoughts and prayers,” the news release added.

Per USA Today:

According to the online site Flight Aware, which tracks flight paths, SkyWest Flight 5121 departed from the Joplin Regional Airport at 5:51 a.m. and, after 42 minutes in air, made an emergency landing at the Peoria International Airport in Illinois.

“Her family immediately notified the flight personnel of her condition, and they began rapidly rendering aid,” the coroner wrote.

A SkyWest spokesperson told USA TODAY the plane, operating as United Express, diverted to Peoria and was met by paramedics to attend to the passenger in medical distress.

“We appreciate the efforts of our crewmembers who responded quickly to assist and the medical personnel who met the aircraft,” officials released in a statement Friday.

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