A passenger died on Christmas Eve during an 11-hour flight from Seoul to Los Angeles after suffering an in-flight heart attack, a local newspaper reported on Dec. 25.

The pilot of the Korean Air flight reported a medical emergency aboard and attempted to divert the Boeing 747 to Anchorage, but the passenger died before the plane reached Alaska, the Daily Breeze newspaper quoted a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) spokesman as saying.

The passenger, whose age was estimated at 70 to 80, apparently suffered a heart attack during the nonstop flight, according to FAA spokesman Ian Gregor.

"All indications show that this was a natural death," said Jason Kim, a passenger service manager for Korean Air.

It was unclear how often passengers die of natural causes during flights. Such statistics were not immediately available from either the FAA or the National Transportation Safety Board.

"It's unusual, but not unheard of for something like this to happen," FAA's Gregor said.

However, at least one in-flight death is reported each month at the Los Angeles International Airport, the world's fifth-busiest airport and the second-busiest one in the United States, according to Paul Haney, deputy executive director of Los Angeles World Airports, the city agency that operates the airport.