Public should feel safe, Anglin says after BA flight health alert

Education Minister Rolston Anglin said “the public should feel safe” after two passengers sparked a health alert, leading to Friday’s British Airways flight from London Heathrow to Grand Cayman being cancelled after arriving at Nassau, Bahamas on Friday 22 May.

Passengers on flight BA253 had to spend the night in Nassau following the incident, before being rebooked onto the Saturday flight.

A statement from The Bahama’s Ministry of Health on Friday said two passengers on the flight had recently travelled to Africa, spending around three weeks in the Democratic Republic of Congo, before travelling onto Ethiopia and then onto The Bahamas. The two people, who Anglin said were cargo pilots, were placed in isolation on landing in Nassau and all other passengers and crew were assessed.

Countries around the world are on high alert following the recent Ebola outbreak in Congo and Uganda, with airports such as Cayman adopting enhanced Ebola screening and surveillance measures.

Speaking to CMR from his airplane seat on Saturday afternoon before taking off to Grand Cayman, Anglin said everyone who had wanted to get on the next available flight had been able to, with some people choosing to remain a few more days.

He said the Cayman Islands government had set up protocols to deal with arrivals into Cayman and had said there was “no material risk to public health”, as ebola virus is not airborne, and is spread instead by close personal contact. 

“British Airways and our own public health officials have been able to identify everyone who was in the air, and those persons as they come into Cayman will undergo enhanced screening, so it’s really good the data that has been shared and action taken on both sides,” he said.

All passengers from the BA253 flight will be asked to fill out a form that will provide Public Health officials with information to ensure adequate surveillance over the coming days. A subgroup of passengers, who were identified based on contact tracing undertaken by Bahamian officials, will be undergoing additional screening at arrival and will be proactively monitored.

Upon arrival at Owen Roberts International Airport, passengers will be escorted to the Public Health team table, which will be located outside of the main arrivals area. At that time, the original 22 May BA253 passengers will undergo screening measures, which will include a brief health questionnaire and confirmation of contact information.

Passengers lied

Anglin shared some of what he’d learned through the ordeal.

“Those two persons, they were cargo pilots who had been in Congo, which is one of the three countries that are on high alert, but they had gone to another country and lied at Heathrow as to their travel history.”

He added, “The US authorities were able to alert the Bahamian authorities, and then that was it – that kicked off all of the events that led to us being deplaned yesterday … but everybody’s safe and sound.”

He said that he had initially given up his own flight on the final leg to a student who had been bumped off the flight, but it later emerged that seats were available for everyone who wished to travel back on Saturday. A Cayman Airways flight which was on standby to bring people on the final leg was also stood down.

“People are just a little tired and exhausted and want to get home to their own bed and to their families,” he said. “But the big picture is that BA, the health authorities in Bahamas, health authorities in Cayman have been able to exchange the appropriate information, the appropriate protocols are set in place for when we land, and so our public should feel completely safe and secure around everything that’s happening and everything that’s happening as it relates to this incident.”

While Anglin praised the response of British Airways and the ground crew at Nassau, other passengers on the flight were less impressed.

Hotels found

Becky Cook, who was travelling to Grand Cayman to visit family, told the Compass “it has been absolute chaos”. Once the plane touched down at Nassau on Friday, she said passengers were held on the plane for over an hour before being locked in an airport lounge for several more.

Bahamian passengers were allowed to leave the airport shortly after their details were taken by officials.

Passengers to Cayman, who were initially told to expect only a delay, were then told that the onward flight had been cancelled. They were finally given water and something to eat from the fast-food restaurant KFC at the airport, said Cook, and were told to organise their own accommodation for the night before hotel rooms were found at around 10.30pm – around eight hours after landing.

Cook said that her party, like everyone else, has had to pay for their accommodation and breakfast, which they will claim back later.