Air France flight bound for Detroit diverted to Canada overboard with passengers from Congo, officials say
An Air France flight from Paris to Detroit was forced to divert to Montreal on Wednesday because of the US flight restrictions connected to the Ebola outbreak after it was determined that one of the passengers was from the Democratic Republic of Congo, government officials and the airline said.
Air France boarded a passenger “in error on a flight bound for the United States,” a spokesperson for US Customs and Border Protection told CBS News in a statement.
“Due to entry restrictions to reduce the risk of the Ebola virus, the passenger should not have boarded the flight,” said a CBP spokesperson. “CBP took decisive action and prevented the flight carrying the passenger from landing at the Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, instead diverting to Montreal, Canada.”
CBP did not say when the person was last in Congo or if he was showing symptoms of the virus.
When reached about the incident, the Federal Aviation Administration referred CBS News to CBP. CBS News has also reached out to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for comment.
Air France said in a statement sent by CBS News that “it confirms that, at the request of the American authorities, (the plane) was transferred to the airport of Montreal after the Congolese passenger who was on board was refused entry to the United States. In fact, under the new rules, passengers arriving from certain countries, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, can only enter the US territory through the Washington (IAD) required for flights to Air, and the flights of the airlines required for France. of the countries it serves.”
According to flight tracking website FlightAware, Air France Flight 378 from Paris-Charles de Gaulle International Airport landed at Montreal Trudeau International Airport at 5:15 pm ET. The condition of the passenger from Congo was not known.
Deborah Mistor, a business passenger on the flight, told CBS News in an interview Thursday night that other passengers then traveled from Montreal to Detroit on the same flight.
Mistor revealed that the passengers were informed by the captain about four hours before they arrived in Detroit that the US authorities were not allowing the plane to land in the US and that the flight was being diverted. However, the captain did not give us a reason.
““I think enough people must have been asking what was going on because after 30 minutes, he came back and said he wanted to make sure there was nothing wrong with the plane, there was no technical difficulty, that it was because the US authorities would not allow us to stay in the US,” Mistor told CBS News.
He said all those working on the plane then put on masks.
“They tell you it’s okay, it’s not a mechanical problem, but everyone is wearing a mask,” Mistor said.
“Having workers wearing masks when they don’t inform us about what is happening is very troubling to us,” he continued. “It lets your mind wander to what the situation might be.”
On Monday, the CDC announced that people without US passports who have visited Congo, Uganda or South Sudan in the past three weeks will be barred from entering the country.
Earlier Wednesday, the Department of Homeland Security, CBP’s parent agency, he confirmed that from Thursdaywill require all US-bound flights carrying travelers from other countries who have been in Congo, Uganda or South Sudan at any time in the past 21 days to fly to Washington-Dulles International Airport in Virginia.
The law, according to its language, is designed to help those travelers to an airport “where the US government is focusing public health services to implement enhanced public health measures.”
It’s unclear how the DHS rule affects the CDC’s earlier order.
The Ebola outbreak centered in eastern Congo was confirmed May 15 by the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said on Wednesday that 600 people are suspected of having Ebola so far, including 139 who are suspected to have died from the virus.
Health officials say the new outbreak is linked to the disease Bundibugyo strainfor which there is no vaccine or approved treatment, according to CBS News health reporter Dr. Céline Gounder.
