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Terrorist or Loser Looking for his Ten Minutes of Fame?
The passengers quarantined at Charlotte Douglas International Airport for four hours Friday afternoon have been released, according to a U.S. Airways spokesperson. The 112 passengers and four crew members were cleared to leave the plane at around 7:30 p.m., after being detained because a fellow passenger on the flight from New Orleans claimed to have smallpox. The passenger was taken to Carolinas Medical Center for testing, and the results were negative, CMC spokesman Scott White said. As Flight 1014 was landing in Charlotte, the passenger allegedly shouted that he had exposed everyone to smallpox. The airline is now backing off initial reports that he was intoxicated. The health department authorized local paramedics to take that person off the flight to be tested. Meanwhile, under federal guidelines, all the passengers had to stay put until the threat could be confirmed or proven false. Charlotte-Mecklenburg police, the Mecklenburg County Health Department, and U.S. Airways officials responded to the scene shortly after the plane landed around 3:30 p.m. From AirStar6, Medic employees in personal protective gear could be seen wheeling a stretcher with the passenger to an ambulance, which transported him to CMC for testing. Posted by: Glenmore 2007-03-24 |
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