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A 50-year-old British woman flying from London to Erbil, Iraq on Saturday missed her connecting flight at Ataturk Airport in Istanbul, Turkey and soon after, was discovered dead in a bathroom, Dogan News Agency reported.
According to the news agency, the deceased, identified as Jacqueline Anne Sutton arrived on Turkish Airlines Flight 1986 at 9:58 p.m. local time and her connection departed at 12:15 a.m., but she was not aboard.
Speaking with staff on the ground afterward, Sutton was told she had to buy another ticket, as the airline wasn't responsible for her missing the flight, the news agency said.
Sutton apparently said at this point, according to the news agency, that it would not be financially possible for her to purchase another ticket, then she went to a restroom located in the airport's international arrivals terminal.
Next, Dogan News Agency said, "reports indicate" she proceeded to commit suicide by hanging herself with the laces of her shoes.
Three Russian fliers found Sutton, and they called paramedics. Upon arriving, they could not detect a pulse, the news agency reported.
Police promptly arrived to commence an investigation, and Sutton's body was transported to the morgue at Turkey's Institution of Forensic Medicine, Dogan News Agency said.
The Daily Mail said Sutton was an ex-BBC journalist, and tentatively identified her as acting Iraq director for the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR), "an organization that supports journalists and activists in conflict-hit countries."
A Foreign Office spokesperson "confirmed the death of a British national in Istanbul," in a comment to the Daily Mail, and added, "We are providing consular assistance to the family at this difficult time."
The Daily Mail noted that Sutton's death comes five months after IWPR Iraq director Ammar Al Shahbander was killed in a car bomb attack in Baghdad.
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