Inquest Reveals How Fulham Schoolgirl Died After Eating Pret Baguette

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Lady Margaret School student Natasha suffered reaction on flight to Nice

An inquest at West London Coroner's Court has revealed the distressing details of the death of Fulham schoolgirl Natasha Ednan-Laperouse, 15, who went into cardiac arrest on a British Airways flight after eating a baguette from Pret A Manger in 2016.

Natasha is pictured above in a photo released by her family.

Natasha, who attended Lady Margaret School in Parsons Green, suffered an allergic reaction to the sesame in the artichoke, olive and tapenade baguette and went into cardiac arrest minutes before her flight from Heathrow to Nice landed on 17 July 2016.

Her family - mother Tanya, brother Alex and father Nadim,
the founder of Isleworth based  company Wow Toys - have been forced to relive the agonising details of her collapse on the plane.

The court, in Bagleys Lane in Fulham, heard that Natasha, who was going on holiday in France with her father and best friend cried: "Daddy, help me" as she struggled to breathe. He gave her two EpiPen injections and a junior doctor travelling on the flight also injected her with adrenaline. However, Natasha became unconscious and was pronounced dead in a hospital in Nice a few hours later.

Coroner Dr Sean Cummings raised concerns over rules which meant Pret did not have to provide ingredient labelling on the baguette Natasha bought at Heathrow Terminal 5 shortly before take-off.

When food is handmade and packaged on the premises, businesses are not required to put allergen information on each individual food item, the hearing was told.

In a statement, Pret said the individual sandwich would not have been labeled with allergen or ingredient information. But the company said there are signs that tell consumers with allergies to speak to managers for additional information.

A Pret spokesman said in an earlier statement: "We were deeply saddened to hear about Natasha’s tragic death, and our heartfelt thoughts are with her family and friends. We take food allergies and how allergen information is provided to our customers extremely seriously. We will continue to do all that we can to assist the coroner's inquest."

A Pret A Manger representative said its allergen policy has since been changed as a complaint log for the company showed nine cases of sesame-related allergy incidents in the year before Natasha died, including six that involved similar "artisan baguettes".

The manager of the Pret outlet at Heathrow Airport's Terminal Five on the day said he was "confident and sure" that allergy alert stickers were in place on the day the family visited, but Natasha's father said there was no label.

In a statement, he said Natasha had suffered from food allergies her entire life, but diligently scrutinised labels and was alert to the danger of cross-contamination, and put her trust in food labelling.

The inquest also heard that a defibrillator on the plane was not used to help Natasha as staff said it was too dangerous to fetch it during landing.

BA head of cabin crew John Harris said it was a formal requirement of his training to ensure that cabin crew were in position on landing so they could get passengers off the aircraft in case of an emergency. Flight attendant Mario Ballestri, who had helped the doctor as he tried to o resuscitate Natasha, said it would have been too dangerous to get the defibrillator from the other end of the aircraft.

A defibrillator was used by paramedics after the plane landed, but it was too late to save Natasha.

Natasha's family said that she had just finished school for the summer and was on her way to Nice for a four-day "special treat".

In a statement they described her as a popular, mature and fun-loving girl who enjoyed horseback riding and ice-skating.

"As a family of four, we had a very close relationship. Our home was quite noisy with laughter, joking and teasing. As a teenager Natasha was always open with us and would readily talk to us about any problems she may be experiencing and would ask us for our advice. She had a strong moral compass and often showed maturity beyond her years."

September 27, 2018