Penang-born SIA stewardess found dead in San Francisco hotel

A Penang-born Singapore Airlines (SIA) stewardess was found dead in a San Francisco hotel room on Tuesday, The Straits Times newspaper reported Friday.

Vanessa Yeap, 38, was found dead several hours before she was to have departed from the city on the return leg of a long-haul flight, said the report, quoting a source.

The report said the return flight to Singapore from San Francisco was scheduled for early morning on Wednesday, which meant that the crew had to check out of their hotel between 10pm and 11pm on Tuesday.

It said that when Yeap, who had been with the airline for about 16 years, did not appear in the lobby, her colleagues went upstairs to check on her.

After several attempts to contact her failed, they broke into her room and found her dead, it added. They tried to resuscitate her but to no avail, said the report.

The newspaper quoted SIA as saying that "as the case is under the investigation of the local authorities, we are unable to share any further details".

"The member of crew operated to SFO (San Francisco) on Flight SQ2/28 January and was due to have operated out from SFO on SQ1/1 February," it said.

The stewardess's elder brother reportedly arrived in San Francisco at about 11pm (Singapore time) Thursday.

"Our immediate priority is to provide the necessary assistance to the family of the crew member," SIA was quoted as saying.

-- BERNAMA