Heartbreaking TikTok shows woman sobbing after airline staff ‘broke her wheelchair’

A woman was left sobbing after airport workers “broke her wheelchair” and now a TikTok capturing the heartbreaking story has gone viral.

Bri Scalesse shared the video of her friend Gabrielle DeFiebre’s crying while speaking to Delta Air Lines employees at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.

The text on the video reads: "Today my heart broke watching my best friend sob because Delta broke her wheelchair. She kept repeating, 'this is my life. This is the only way I can live my life.'”

You can watch the full video here.

"I felt devastated and defeated," DeFiebre later told Insider.

Since it was posted last week, the video has gone viral with an astounding 13M views, 2.1M likes and over 50,000 comments.

Many have shared their support for DeFiebre and demanded that Delta pay for the damage to her wheelchair.

One person said: “I am so sorry this is even a thing, demand that they cover the costs of the damage.”

“@delta I’m pretty sure you can pay for a wheelchair your employees broke,” another person wrote.

In an interview with Daily Dot, DeFiebre said her wheelchair was in “perfect condition” when she gave it to airline works at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York.

But, when she got her wheelchair back after landing in Phoenix, Arizona, she described how her wheels were "warped and mangled."

The International Air Transport Association apologised in response when the TikTok was posted on Twitter.

Delta Air Line has also since apologised to DeFiebre for the incident. A spokesperson told Newsweek: “We're so sorry that her wheelchair was damaged and have been in touch with her directly to make this right, including support to make repairs to her device.

“We know our customers with disabilities rely on Delta for their travel needs, and we fell short here. We're conducting a full investigation of what happened, because we must be better.”

On Monday, Scalesse updated her followers to say that Delta have agreed to pay for the damage.