More than 100 passengers on a British Airways flight from London to Aberdeen were quarantined for almost two hours last night amid fears a young girl had the deadly Ebola virus.
A 10-year-old girl, said to be of Nigerian descent, was “violently sick” onboard the BA1314 service from Heathrow.
The captain radioed ahead to alert airport staff and emergency personnel on the ground.
A specialist crew from the Scottish Ambulance Service were immediately called to the scene.
Shocked passengers looked on as personnel in bio-hazard suits boarded the plane, which had left the capital shortly before 6pm.
The aircraft was held on the runway for about 90 minutes, while other flights from London’s Gatwick and City airports disembarked nearby.
The girl was examined by medical staff and found not to have the virus.
However, she was taken by ambulance to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary for further checks.
George Eady, duty manager at Aberdeen International Airport, said: “A young girl was violently sick on a flight from Heathrow.
“In any situation like this we enact our port health procedures to protect anyone on board and anyone meeting the flight.
“These procedures are purely precautionary.
“The girl was checked over by a specialist crew from the Scottish Ambulance Service, and has been taken to hospital for further checks.”
The Ebola virus, which has a fatality rate of up to 91%, is most common in the remote villages of central and west Africa.
It is transmitted between humans through close contact with blood and other bodily fluids.
Symptoms of the severe acute viral illness include fever, vomiting, headaches and, in some cases, severe internal and external bleeding.
A total of 101 passengers were kept on the aircraft until around 8.30pm last night, when the incident was stood down and they were allowed to disembark.
One passenger on the flight described the situation by text message, saying someone was ill and being taken from the plane in bio-hazard suits.
The passenger went on to say the plane would be sealed once the passengers had been removed, and men in bio-hazard suits were already aboard.
A spokesman for British Airways confirmed: “A passenger was taken unwell during a flight and the captain radioed ahead, as per standard procedure, asking for assistance.”
A spokeswoman for the ambulance service said he was unable to comment on the situation as it was a medical matter.
The emergency response from the airline and the authorities happened on the same day that a British national who had tested positive for Ebola in Sierra Leone was flown back to the UK.
The healthcare worker will be treated at a London hospital, in the UK’s only high level isolation unit.