Around a dozen passengers mysteriously fell ill on a United Airlines flight from Vancouver, Canada to Houston, Texas on Friday after disembarking a cruise ship. The plane reached Houston at George Bush Intercontinental Airport with roughly 25 passengers feeling unwell, as per a report in USA Today.
Notably, a group of 75 travellers had been on the cruise before the flight. Of these, several passengers complained of nausea, flu-like symptoms, and feeling sick. There were 163 passengers and six crew members aboard the flight.
Emergency medical personnel from the Houston Fire Department checked on three of the passengers upon the plane's landing but none of them needed hospitalisation.
United Airlines told USA Today in a statement, "Several passengers who had been on the same cruise and did not feel well were on United Flight 1528 from Vancouver to Houston Friday night. United Airlines is actively coordinating with health authorities to address the situation."
They added, "As a precautionary measure, the aircraft will be removed from service and go through a deep cleaning before returning to service. Ensuring the health and safety of our passengers and crew remains our top priority."
However, the airlines did not mention anything about the cruise or the flyers that had been travelling before their flight.
Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) added that the passengers did not report any serious disease and the flight continued with its schedule. "Public health officers from CDC's Houston Port Health Station worked with EMS to evaluate ill passengers on board. Most of the ill passengers reported mild GI symptoms. No passengers were noted to have a fever during the flight or upon public health assessment at landing. No passengers met CDC criteria for further public health follow-up. Passengers from the flight continued with their travel plans," a CDC spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
