A German politician has died after an emergency landing at Shannon Airport.
Karin Strenz, who was a member of Angela Merkel's CDU party, lost consciousness on a flight from Cuba to Germany on Sunday.
The 53-year-old was taken from the plane to University Hospital Limerick, where she was pronounced dead.
The Irish Times reports that it was not clear on Sunday night whether Ms Strenz was on a personal or work-related trip to Cuba, or what caused her death, with a postmortem required to establish why she lost consciousness.
It is understood Ms Strenz was with her husband on the plane bound for Frankfurt, when a medical emergency was reported and the pilot was cleared to make an unscheduled stop at about 7.30am in Shannon.
State investigation
Gardaí have confirmed a woman who had been on a flight that landed at Shannon later died, but made no comment on her identity.
“Gardaí and emergency services were alerted to a medical emergency on board a flight which landed at Shannon Airport, Co Clare, at approximately 7.30pm,” a spokesperson said of the Sunday morning landing.
“A woman (50s) was taken to University Hospital Limerick from the aircraft. The woman was pronounced deceased a short time later. Arrangements have been made for a postmortem to take place.”
Ms Strenz was one of a group of politicians in Ms Merkel’s party being investigated for allegedly taking money from Azerbaijan in exchange for lobbying on behalf of the former Soviet republic. State prosecutors began a formal investigation into her in January.
