John Cannan died after choking on food in Abu Dhabi

An inquest has heard that John Cannan, 51, from Heywood died after choking on food in a Middle Eastern airport. The dad of two collapsed at the airport on his way home from holiday.

Mr Cannan was catching a connecting flight back from Manchester after a holiday in Thailand when he collapsed.

Mr Cannan spent eight weeks in a coma after suffering a bleed on the brain when he collapsed at Abu Dhabi airport in May last year. He did not regain consciousnesses and was breathing with the aid of a ventilator when he died on 17 July 2013 at Al Mafraq Hospital.

The inquest at Heywood Coroners Court heard how Mr Cannan had suffered from heart problems and had undergone brain surgery after
collapsing.

Mr Cannan’s family were unable to transfer him back to the UK whilst he was in a coma as his travel insurance had been declared invalid because he did not notify the company of any existing heart problems.

The inquest into his death did not receive supporting evidence from the hospital or the Foreign Commonwealth Office to discover how Mr Cannan’s throat had become blocked.

In the UK, pathologists determined that Mr Cannan had died from food aspiration after his trachea became completely blocked with food.

They were unable to explain how it had happened.

Mr Cannan’s family were given the opportunity to adjourn the hearing until further evidence had been received. The family declined this request and asked for the verdict to be recorded.

The coroner went on to record a narrative verdict.