Cruise ends in quarantine hell as sickness hits on f light home
MORE than 400 holidaymakers were put in quarantine for four hours at Gatwick Airport after dozens fell sick on the ninehour flight from Barbados.
The passengers were returning from a luxury two-week Caribbean cruise on the MSC Preziosa in the Caribbean.
Dozens fell ill on the nine- hour flight with a combination of hacking coughs, vomiting, diarrhoea, rashes, and sore throats.
The outbreak was so severe that the Virgin Atlantic Airbus A330 was surrounded by emergency services after landing at around 5.45am. Police and paramedics wearing masks boarded the plane and escorted passengers and crew to a holding area for medical assessment.
Around 30 people were treated on board the plane, with two taken to a local hospital for further checks. Several cabin crew members also fell sick, although they were discharged by medics after being assessed.
Virgin Atlantic said it had launched an investigation. A spokeswoman said it had also carried out a full ‘deep clean’ of the aircraft and other checks – including of the plane’s air conditioning system.
The airline took its plane out of service for the day but the spotlight has now fallen on Swiss-based MSC Cruises, the world’s largest private cruise ship operator, as passengers reported falling sick on the boat before boarding the flight.
This was confirmed in a statement yesterday by Public Health England which said passengers had displayed ‘varying symptoms’ including vomiting, diarrhoea and coughing.
It added: ‘ Further investigation by PHE revealed that passengers had been holidaying on a Caribbean cruise and had reported feeling unwell before
‘A very unpleasant experience’
boarding the flight from Bridgetown, Barbados.’
Dr Sarah Lock, public health consultant with PHE South East, said: ‘This flight will have been a very unpleasant experience; however, those that were unwell most likely picked up any infection prior to boarding in Barbados.’ Passenger Trevor Wilson, also pointed the finger at the cruise operator. He said: ‘ This flight was exclusively cruise passengers from the MSC Preziosa. The illness seems to have originated on board ship. Five members of cabin crew became sick on flight.’
He added that the sickness was ‘mainly a bad chesty cough, possibly chest infection’.
Fellow passenger Phill Brown said: ‘On landing, lots of people reported feeling ill, sickness, diarrhoea, coughs, sore throats and even rashes. Not sure of exact numbers but it affected customers and crew. I’ve heard it affected 50, 80 and over 100.’
Passengers paid a minimum of £1,399 per person for the cruise which started and finished in Barbados. But a spokesman for MSC Cruises disputed claims that the passengers had fallen sick on the ship. He said 4,180 passengers had been on the 14day cruise with no reports of anyone falling sick.
He said: ‘We are still investigating what may have caused the illness and we are currently waiting for further updates from Gatwick Airport medical services.
‘What we do know is that, on MSC Preziosa, no cases of acute gastroenteritis have been reported in the past 14 days.’
A Virgin Atlantic spokesman said: ‘Our aircraft is undergoing a full check and deep clean to ensure is it fully sanitised before going back into service. There is no reason to believe it was a fault at this stage.’