Thirty people aboard a United Airlines aircraft flying from Toronto to Houston were sick with flu-like symptoms, leading to mayhem on board. The ill passengers had gone on a cruise with the rest of their travel party of about 75 individuals before their trip.
After departing from Vancouver, the Boeing 737 Max touched down at Houston’s Bush Intercontinental Airport, where first responders were waiting. The Houston Fire Department was sent to the location after 6 p.m. After first responders assessed three people, no immediate medical assistance was deemed necessary.
Fire department officials noticed that the guests were showing symptoms related to the trip, such as nausea. According to United Airlines, a number of sick cruise passengers were on the same aircraft.
The airline said the aircraft was a Boeing 737 MAX 8 and that 163 passengers and six crew members participated in the trip. Since then, United has removed the aircraft from service while it is cleaned thoroughly.
On another trip in May, there was a high incidence of sudden illness among passengers. Similar events occurred last month on a Condor aircraft from Mauritius to Frankfurt when 70 people had motion sickness and vomited while in flight. In order to notify ground authorities of the developing situation, the crew contacted the airport ahead of the landing.
Seventy people out of 290 aboard reported experiencing rapid sickness, including vomiting and other symptoms.
In an interview with a German periodical, an airline representative verified the incident and said that none of the crew members were sick. The pilot and crew have received extensive training and education for emergency scenarios such as these, according to the statement sent to the publication. The flight proceeded after a thorough assessment of the situation. Frankfurt was the safe landing spot, and medical personnel were on hand to treat the injured passengers. But the airline did say that the food served on board was made in Mauritius, so it’s unclear what caused the unexpected sickness. The representative went on to emphasize that an ongoing inquiry into the situation has been launched to determine the root cause and to extract potential actions from it, keeping the public informed and involved in the process.
