Plane compelled to divert over Ebola fears after Congo passenger boarded ‘in error’
An Air France flight heading for America had to divert to Canada after authorities feared a passenger from the Congo may have been exposed to the deadly Ebola virus
The Air France flight was dramatically diverted (Image: Getty)
A transatlantic Air France flight was dramatically diverted to Montreal after US authorities feared a passenger may have been exposed to the deadly Ebola virus.
The aircraft had been travelling from Paris to Detroit when it was forced to alter its route and land in Canada following concerns raised by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
According to officials, the passenger had recently travelled to East Africa and was mistakenly allowed to board the flight despite new travel restrictions linked to the outbreak. A statement read: “Due to entry restrictions put in place to reduce the risk of the Ebola virus, the passenger should not have boarded the plane.
“CBP took decisive action and prohibited the flight carrying that traveler from landing at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, and instead, diverted to Montreal, Canada.”
Authorities have not confirmed whether the passenger was displaying any symptoms associated with the virus.
Flight tracking data showed the plane touched down in Montreal at approximately 5.15pm, where the passenger was reportedly removed before the aircraft resumed its journey to Detroit.
Air France later confirmed that a Congolese passenger had been refused entry into the United States.
An airline source also revealed that cabin crew quickly put on face masks after being alerted to the situation onboard.
The diversion comes days after the Department of Homeland Security announced a 30-day travel ban, introduced on May 18, affecting non-US passport holders travelling from the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan and Uganda.
Additional screening measures were also rolled out for travellers departing from airports in those countries, as well as anyone who had visited them within the previous 21 days.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has since declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.
On Wednesday, the WHO confirmed 51 verified Ebola cases in Congo’s northern provinces, along with two confirmed cases in Uganda.
Health officials say the outbreak has so far resulted in 139 suspected deaths and nearly 600 suspected cases.
US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, declared on Tuesday that the United Nations agency had been “a little late” in identifying the lethal disease. Rubio informed reporters: “The lead is obviously going to be CDC [Centers for Disease Control] and the World Health Organization, which was a little late to identify this thing unfortunately”.
During a WHO press conference on Wednesday morning, a journalist enquired how long Ebola had been circulating before detection and whether the organisation had any response to Rubio’s criticism. Anais Legand, an Academic Researcher from WHO, responded: “Surveillance starts within the communities and starts with the health organisations in every single country.”
She added: “As soon as WHO was aware, support was provided to DRC to investigate as soon as possible and this ended with the confirmation late last week.
“Investigations are ongoing to assert when and where exactly this outbreak started, given the scale we are thinking it started probably a couple of months ago. But the investigation is ongoing and our priority is to cut the transmission chain.”
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus revealed that 51 cases have been confirmed so far in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) across the northern provinces of Ituri and North Kivu, “although we know the scale of the epidemic is much larger”.
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