Man dies on plane with 246 cocaine wraps in stomach

A Japanese man died on board a flight home after the plane's crew noticed he was having a seizure shortly after takeoff.

The 42-year-old had traveled from the Colombian capital Bogota to Mexico City before boarding the connecting flight to Narita, Japan.

"Flight attendants noticed a person suffering convulsions, and requested permission to make an emergency landing in Hermosillo, Sonora," the prosecutor's office for the Mexican state of Sonora said in a statement.

Shortly after landing in the Mexican city of Hermosillo, paramedics boarded the plane and declared the man, identified as "Udo N," deceased.

The cause of death was swelling of the brain caused by a drug overdose, said the statement.

An autopsy found the man had swallowed 246 small packets containing cocaine.

The Aeromexico plane, which was carrying 198 other passengers, resumed its flight to Japan after the body was removed, prosecutors said.

Using people to carry illegal drugs inside their bodies is a popular smuggling tactic with drug cartels. The so-called drug mules risk severe jail time and their lives.