MOSCOW, May 21 (Bernama-Sputnik/RIA Novosti) -- The United States (US) authorities did not allow French airline Air France to enter its airspace because of a passenger from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where an Ebola outbreak is ongoing, Sputnik/RIA Novosti reported, citing the CBS broadcaster reported on Thursday.
Officials said an Air France flight from Paris to Detroit was forced to land in Montreal, Canada, due to restrictions on flights to the US, the broadcaster reported.
As US Customs and Border Protection told CBS, Air France "in error" placed a passenger on board a flight bound for the US.
At the same time, the department did not specify whether the passenger was a citizen of the DRC or had merely travelled from there, nor whether he exhibited any symptoms of the disease.
One of the passengers on the flight told CBS that they were not informed of the reason for the landing in Canada, but after the flight change was announced, all flight attendants put on masks. According to the report, the same plane later departed from Montreal to Detroit.
Last week, the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the Ebola outbreak in the DRC and Uganda an emergency and a threat to other states. According to the latest data from Congolese authorities, 131 deaths from the virus have been recorded in the country.
The previous Ebola outbreak in the DRC ended in October 2025.
-- BERNAMA-SPUTNIK/RIA NOVOSTI
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