A flight headed to Detroit ended up making an unexpected stop in Canada on Wednesday after a passenger from the Democratic Republic of Congo reportedly boarded a plane by mistake during the ongoing Ebola-related travel restrictions.
The Air France flight, leaving from Paris, was originally scheduled to land at Detroit Metropolitan Airport. However, it was diverted to Montreal after U.S. officials blocked it from entering the country, according to NBC News.
According to flight tracking data, the plane landed at Montreal-Trudeau International Airport shortly after 5 p.m. Eastern time instead of its original Detroit destination.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection told NBC that the passenger should never have been allowed onto the aircraft in the first place because of emergency entry restrictions tied to the Ebola outbreak, currently affecting parts of central Africa.
“Due to entry restrictions put in place to reduce the risk of the Ebola virus, the passenger should not have boarded the plane,” a CBP spokesperson said.
The incident comes days after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced temporary travel restrictions for non-U.S. citizens who have recently been in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, or South Sudan. The policy is expected to remain in effect for at least 30 days.
Federal agencies are also tightening airport screening procedures. Beginning Thursday, flights carrying passengers that have recently traveled through those countries are being routed to Washington Dulles International Airport. Dulles already has enhanced health screening measures in place.
According to officials, Dulles is now the primary airport where the U.S. government is concentrating its public health response and monitoring efforts that are related to the outbreak.
Neither DHS nor Air France offered any additional details about how the passenger was able to board the flight despite the restrictions.
The Ebola outbreak itself is continuing to worsen. According to the World Health Organization, more than 600 suspected cases have been identified, and there have been at least 139 suspected deaths, most of them in Congo.
Health officials are racing to develop a vaccine for the Bundibugyo strain, which is linked to the outbreak, however the WHO warned that any potential vaccine is still months away from human trials.
