Victoria Buchanan, a British teacher, is dead at 42 after an incident at Manchester Airport while flying home from vacation to Dubai. According to a report from the Manchester Evening News, Buchanan suffered a seizure after swallowing a bag of cocaine before boarding the flight.
Buchanan had been drinking champagne before realizing the drugs were still on her. Rather than discarding them, she decided to swallow the bag which ended up exploding in her stomach.
“We were aware she would take small amounts of cocaine occasionally and it was something we did together, I had left the UK a few days before not a lot was left not that that matters now,” her husband Mark said, via Metro. “If somebody had asked her to smuggle the cocaine she would have refused she wasn’t in a position to be blackmailed I can say that 100 percent, it wasn’t the intention I definitely didn’t ask her to bring it back.”
Witnesses at the airport attempted to help Buchanan, who they believed was having an allergic reaction.
From the report:
She had £60 worth of cocaine left when she decided to swallow it in the hope of getting it back home – and moments later she collapsed with a severe seizure when the bag burst in her stomach. Onlookers at Manchester Airport initially believed Mrs Buchanan was having an anaphylactic shock and administered an epipen she had in her handbag for a palm oil allergy but died later at Wythenshawe Hospital.
“Why she took such a risk will never be known but I’m satisfied it was done of her own volition and there was no coercion or threat, there was no criminal activity and no charges have been brought,” assistant coroner Andrew Bridge said, via BBC.
Our deepest condolences are with Victoria’s family during this difficult and tragic time.