Ebola Scare: Air France plane isolated at Madrid Airport over sick passenger from Nigeria

A Madrid airport activated emergency measures Thursday after a passenger arriving on an Air France flight was suspected of having Ebola.

The passenger on Air France 1300 from Lagos, Nigeria, had started shivering with a fever during the flight which landed at Barajas International Airport in the Spanish capital.


Air France said the other passengers disembarked from the plane, which was flying via Paris. The plane will now be disinfected and the return flight has been cancelled.

Spain’s health ministry confirmed that an Ebola emergency protocol was set in motion but declined to give details. There had been at least 160 people on board the flight which left Charles de Gaulle in Paris at 9.35 am and arrived at 11.30 am.
 
An Air France spokesperson said the passenger had been isolated “for medical checks”, but other sources at the airline suggested that he did not have Ebola.

France yesterday became the fourth country after Britain, the United States and Canada to introduce screening for the virus at its main international airports. It came as the United Nations warned that Ebola was outpacing efforts to combat the epidemic.


Credit: Zacheaus Somorin
Photo Credit: EPA