Filipino passenger found dead in plane toilet

MANILA -- A Filipino passenger was found dead Wednesday in the toilet of a plane in which he was flying home from the Middle East and police are investigating whether it was a suicide, officials said.

Gulf Air flight attendants found the man, a cord tied around his neck, as they made last-minute checks before landing in Manila from Bahrain. Crew members and a nurse were unable to revive him, Manila airport officials said.

The 36-year-old man, who died on board Gulf Air flight 154, appeared restless during the flight, police said, citing witnesses.

It was the same Gulf Air flight on which a returning Filipino maid delivered a baby in September. The baby was later found abandoned in the plane's toilet trash bin and saved by airport doctors.

The man had worked for three months as an electrician in Abu Dhabi and his wife and relatives had traveled to the airport Wednesday to welcome him back, Manila airport manager Octavio Lina said.

"It was difficult to break the news to his family," Lina said, adding that police were investigating the man's background.

There was no immediate statement from the Gulf Air office in Manila. (AP)