Spanish drug mule dies as coke bags burst

The incident occurred on Tuesday afternoon on a TAM Airlines flight from Lima to Sao Paulo.

A statement from Spanish police noted that 45-year-old Spanish citizen Néstor Diaz became ill then died mid-flight, forcing the pilot of the plane to make an emergency landing in Campo Grande, the capital of Brazil's central-western Mato Grosso do Sul state.

An autopsy revealed 38 bags of cocaine in his stomach, some of which had burst mid-flight.

The cause of his death was officially recorded as a heart attack.