An Air France plane was evacuated on Thursday after a passenger showed symptoms of Ebola on the flight to Madrid from Lagos via Paris.
Air France, airports operator,Aena, and Spanish officials thereafter evoked emergency protocol, isolating the over 160 passengers aboard the flight for medical checks.
The passenger was taken to Madrid’s Carlos III Hospital in an ambulance flanked by a police motorcade, television images showed. The driver was wearing full protective suit and goggles.
Passengers at the airport said the plane was parked on the tarmac surrounded by emergency services and people in white protective gear. Air France said the plane would be disinfected and the return flight was cancelled.
In a related news, France 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.