Warning: This article contains discussion of suicide which some readers may find distressing.

The father of a missing woman has been found dead after flying to Los Angeles to help look for her.

Hannah Kobayashi disappeared after missing her connected flight to New York from Maui, Hawaii, at LAX Airport on 8 November.

The 31-year-old photographer was on the same flight as her ex-boyfriend, who bought the pair of tickets before they broke up, and as he continued to New York, she did not come with him.

He is currently ‘cooperating with police‘ after receiving a bizarre text message from her phone about a ‘spiritual awakening’.

Since her family reported her as missing on 11 November, she has not been heard from, but now, two weeks on, her father has been found dead.

After he flew out himself to help with the search, Ryan Kobayashi, 58, was found dead at the bottom of a car park at LAX airport at approximately 4am on Sunday, according to NBC Los Angeles.

Though a coroner confirmed the father’s death, the official cause has not yet been confirmed.

He had been searching for his daughter for almost two weeks, and was reportedly seen on Friday, handing out flyers to Los Angeles residents, asking for any information on his daughter.

Following his death, the Kobayashi family released a statement via non-profit organisation the RAD Movement, saying: “The Kobayashi family endured a devastating tragedy today.

“After tirelessly searching throughout Los Angeles for 13 days, Hannah’s father, Ryan Kobayashi, tragically took his own life. This loss has compounded the family’s suffering immeasurably.

“What the family needs most in this difficult time is for all communities to rally around them with support, compassion, and prayers. Please be considerate with your comments and posts.

“The trauma they are enduring is profound, and they now face the additional burden of grieving the loss of their family’s pillar and navigating next steps.”

Ryan spoke with news outlet KTLA on Monday (18 November) in an attempt to reach his daughter, stating ‘I miss her’, adding: “Just want her to know that, and just want her to reach out — anything.”

Hannah was last seen over two weeks ago (Facebook)

Hannah’s aunt, Larie Pidgeon, spoke to the New York Post, last week, where she explained that surveillance footage seen by the family showing Hannah with an unidentified individual at the Pico Metro station had caused ‘major alarm’ for Hannah’s loved ones and also ‘kind of solidified the family’s suspicion that something has been awry’.

“It has made us extremely worried,” Larie said.

The relative also further explained to KTLA 5: “She is not safe, and she is not alone.”

The development has only heightened the growing fears of Hannah’s family, as she had also sent a series of concerning texts to people, such as her ex-boyfriend, before vanishing.

In one message to a friend, the missing Maui woman said she had ‘got tricked into pretty much giving away all my funds’.

Hannah is described as being 5ft 10ins and around 140lbs, with brown hair, brown eyes, fair skin and freckles.

If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, please don’t suffer alone. Call Samaritans for free on their anonymous 24-hour phone line on 116 123.

A woman who claims to have died twice in the same day has revealed how she saw the ‘exact’ same thing both times.

Lisa Small, 41, came back from the brink despite suffering two sudden respiratory arrests just hours apart back in 2008.

She was in the throes of a drug and alcohol addiction and was just 24-years-old when she suddenly collapsed after taking cocaine.

Her boyfriend at the time gave her CPR after she became unconscious, while noting that Lisa, from Belleview in the US state of Florida, stopped breathing – but interestingly, her eyes remained wide open.

She eventually regained consciousness and carried on with her day, but sought medical attention later that evening after she collapsed again.

Doctors later informed Lisa that she had gone into respiratory arrest, which is a life-threatening emergency where a patient stops breathing but their heart continues to beat.

This can occur for a number of reasons, according to Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support Medical Training, such as if the area of the brain that controls respiration becomes depressed, which is often seen in opioid overdoses.

“If the nerves and/or muscles are not capable of supporting respiration, a patient may enter respiratory arrest,” it also states.

“Another example is a state in which the chest might not be able to physically support respiration.

“This might occur externally, e.g., with a crush injury to the chest, or internally, e.g., in acute respiratory distress syndrome or tension pneumothorax.”

READ MORE:

MAN LEFT IN DISBELIEF AFTER PHOTO CONFIRMED WHAT HE SAW DURING NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCE

WOMAN WHO SUFFERED NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCES EXPLAINS WHAT SHE SAW IN ‘AFTERLIFE’

It can have fatal consequences if not treated quickly, while the oxygen deprivation can also trigger a cardiac arrest or cause irreversible damage to the brain.

But miraculously, Lisa was one of ‘the blessed ones that made it’ back to the land of the living and insists that she didn’t sustain any lasting damage – but she claims to have encountered heaven on her way back.

Discussing her near-death experience, the waitress explained: “I literally stopped breathing. I collapsed. I stopped breathing.

The 41-year-old claims she saw the same thing both times she lost consciousness and stopped breathing (Getty Stock Photo)

“All of a sudden I was in this big, huge open field, and there was a tree next to me, and then there was a guy in a white cloth. Way off, miles and miles away, there was a sea of people.

“I couldn’t physically see anybody, but I felt like I knew them. This feeling of just wonderfulness. I can’t even explain it.”

“It was like euphoria times a million,” she added.

Fascinatingly, Lisa claims that she returned to ‘the exact same spot’ during her second collapse hours later.

“Exact same tree, person, people in the distance, exact same feeling,” the mum said. “My boyfriend told me, ‘Your eyes were open the entire time’ – so clearly, I wasn’t dreaming.”

She explained she felt like a ‘phoenix out of the ashes’ in wake of her near-death experience, although it took her another ten years to kick her drug habit for good.

After a turbulent decade, during which Lisa believes she spent around $40,000 (£30,139) on substances, she managed to turn her life around in 2018.

“Being sober, my life has literally done a full 360, not even just a 180,” Lisa said. “Everything is different. Everything. Where I was headed was total destruction.

“Addiction is basically a pit of despair, like a demon that has a hold of you. You have to be stronger than that.”

An air traffic controller at Newark Liberty International Airport has reportedly issued a warning for passengers following a huge number of cancellations and delays.

The airport welcomed 49 million travellers in 2024, making it the second busiest in New York City, according to the New York Post.

In recent weeks, however, Newark has faced a number of delays and cancellations, with United Airlines having announced the cancellation of 35 roundtrip flights a day ‘to protect our customers’, the Post further reports.

United CEO Scott Kirby said in a statement on Friday (2 May) that Newark has lost 20 percent of its air controllers, who ‘walked off the job’, while the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said the build up in delays were due to a lack of air traffic controllers at the airport and runway construction.

Kirby believes the problems have been building up for years and has urged the US Government to ‘limit the number of flights to what the airport can realistically handle’.

“In the past few days, on more than one occasion, technology that FAA air traffic controllers rely on to manage the airplanes coming in and out of Newark airport failed – resulting in dozens of diverted flights, hundreds of delayed and canceled flights and worst of all, thousands of customers with disrupted travel plans,” Kirby said.

It comes after an air traffic controller reportedly told NBC News that the airport is ‘not safe’ for travellers.

“It is not safe. It is not a safe situation right now for the flying public,” the air safety employee reportedly said to senior NBC News correspondent Tom Costello.

“Really an incredible statement, unsolicited. He just said that to me, and separately, ‘Don’t fly into Newark. Avoid Newark at all costs’.” Costello added.

On Thursday (1 May), transportation secretary Sean Duffy said they were looking to increase employment in the FAA and try to take on at least 2,000 controllers this year, according to The Guardian.

“We’re hoping in three to four years we can get to full staffing, not 20 years,” he said. “How do you make up the gap? We can’t snap our fingers to make up the numbers.”

20 percent of its air controllers have ‘walked off the job’, according to United’s CEO (Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)

Kirby went on to claim in his statement on Friday that ‘technology issues were compounded as over 20 percent of the FAA controllers for EWR walked off the job’.

“Keep in mind, this particular air traffic control facility has been chronically understaffed for years,” he added. “And without these controllers, it’s now clear –and the FAA tells us – that Newark airport cannot handle the number of planes that are scheduled to operate there in the weeks and months ahead.”

Kirby did note that Newark ‘is an incredible airport’ and that the FAA ‘can help it fulfil its incredible potential to be a safe, reliable and efficient gateway to the world for the American traveling public’.

LADbible Group has contacted Newark Liberty International Airport and the FAA for comment.

A woman has divided people online after revealing the small mistake which she claims saw her getting pulled for additional security screening at the airport.

It’s a universally agreed fact of life that airports are the most stressful part of travelling.

From checking that your passport hasn’t moved from your back pocket every five minutes to spending hours waiting around in a grey departure lounge; there’s a reason why most people crave a pint while they’re at the airport – though it’s not exactly recommended.

Security in particular is a complete minefield, especially with the UK laws on liquids in hand luggage currently set to change in the near future.

As things currently stand, passengers cannot bring any liquids in hand luggage if they’re over 100ml and all of these liquids must be able to fit into one clear plastic bag.

Which means spending an unnecessary amount of time decanting your shampoo and shower gel into mini travel bottles.

While the law is pretty clear on what is and isn’t allowed through security, the question of what counts as a liquid can often leave passengers feeling confused.

This confusion was evident in a recent Reddit thread, where one woman sought advice after supposedly being pulled for extra security screening due to having asthma inhalers and medication in her bag.

Relaying the incident, she wrote that her bag ‘got taken for a search because I didn’t take out my inhalers and medicine capsules’.

The limits regarding liquids can be particularly stressful (Getty Stock Images)

She went on to write that she’d received a ‘lecture’ from the security guy who’d stopped her and told her that placing inhalers and liquid medication in a clear liquid bag has been a rule for the last ‘2 and a half years ago’ – despite the woman claiming that she’d never been asked to do it before.

It turns out she wasn’t the only person who had been left confused by the rules either, with several people also revealing their experiences when travelling abroad.

“I was not aware this was a rule,” wrote one person, who added that they’ve flown regularly with medication in their hand luggage, while another poster recalled being questioned for needing ‘three inhalers’ with them.

Guidance on the UK Government website isn’t too clear, stating that you need proof of prescription for liquid medication over 100ml while inhalers are fine to take in hand luggage, however, advice from airports such as Stansted, Manchester and Gatwick says that inhalers are included as a liquid and must be kept in a clear plastic bag.

According to Stansted Airport’s website, exemptions to the rule are if they are ‘for essential medical purposes’, in which case they must be accompanied with ‘a medical note or prescription’.

This is backed up by the experience of one commenter who works in an airport and wrote that inhalers are considered and LAG (liquids, aerosols and gases).

“I’m asthmatic and I work at an airport. Inhalers are classed as a LAG so need to be screened in a seperate [sic] clear plastic bag,” they wrote.

“It doesn’t matter if your inhaler is a dry powder inhaler and doesn’t use compressed gas. On an x-ray, it’ll still look like a compressed gas inhaler.”