BANGOR, Maine — A Delta flight en route from Amsterdam to Minnesota was diverted to Bangor International Airport shortly before noon Friday after a child became ill.
The Airbus A330-200 had 238 passengers on board when it landed in Bangor about 11:40 a.m., BIA Director Tony Caruso said early Friday afternoon. The flight resumed at 12:45 p.m., after the child and his mother were taken to Eastern Maine Medical Center by ambulance.
According to a live flight tracking website, Delta Air Lines Flight 259 departed Amsterdam at 10:52 a.m. (Central European Time). It was scheduled to arrive at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport two hours later than originally scheduled.
State epidemiologist Dr. Stephen Sears said Friday that the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Division of Infectious Disease was informed of the inflight illness by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, which had been notified by the flight crew.
Also informed were officials at BIA and the Bangor Fire Department emergency medical personnel involved in transporting the child and his mother to the hospital.
Sears said early Friday afternoon that he did not yet have all the details and that it was not yet clear what had made the child sick. He did say, however, that the flight crew “thought it was significant enough for the plane to divert.”
Sears said he was told the child’s symptoms included a fever, chills and swollen glands. He noted that those particular symptoms are found in a wide variety of illnesses.
“The list is very long,” he said.
Sears also said he was told that the child, a male believed to be 4 or 5 years old, is a U.S. citizen, but that the child and his mother might have been in Africa prior to leaving the Netherlands.
Sears said that the child’s illness would continue to be monitored and that the flight’s crew and passengers will be notified if the boy’s illness is determined to be contagious and if there was a risk of exposure.
Fingers crossed it’s nothing major. Wishing this little one a complete and speedy recovery!
Amen!
And before you know it, 90% of the US population has succumbed to Ebola.
Have you ever read “The Hot Zone” ? While the book has been out for awhile most people don’t know there are many different strains of Ebola. There was an outbreak in Reston, VA in 1989 that a lot of people know nothing about. That strain is known as Ebola-Reston but thankfully humans at the time could not contact.
Outstanding book. And terribly frightening.
As someone who lived in the MD/VA/DC area in 1989 I cringed when I read the book and yes, it is an outstanding book and it will shake you to your core.
Settling the Boston vs Bangor practically.
Dont be so heartless he is just as human as the rest of us.
This might be as much about wanting attention as it is about his opinion of kids.
Doubt the snakes would stoop that low.
I saw the FlightAware track and knew it was more than a gas-and-go. Besides, the A330 can make that run with plenty of fuel to spare. It’s usually the 757s that struggle. In this case, the plane was near Quebec City when it made an abrupt left turn and went straight to Bangor. I suppose that from the decision point, Boston might have been no worse and it’s much more of a major DL station than Bangor is.
Boston have been a better choice for the little tyke as Children’s Hospital Medical Center is only as far an ambulance ride as EMMC is in Bangor. But it can be tougher to set down in an emergency at Logan. Logan is a far busier field than Bangor and in some weather, even seemingly nice weather, planes are stacked awaiting landing. One would think they could put a plane with a sick passenger to the front of the line, but logistically, Bangor is probably easier to arrange an emergency landing of this sort.
Hope the little guy is OK and on his way home soon.
If you have a medical emergency, then you get priority and don’t have to wait for other planes “stacked” for landing. You’d be cleared to land as soon as you get near BOS or anywhere else for that matter, so that’s not even a consideration.
Also, EMMC is MORE than qualified to handle a kid with a fever, chills, and swollen glands!!! Bangor was slightly closer than Boston from where the decision was made, and the BGR airport/crew has the ability to turn the plane and get it, along with the 200+ other passengers, back on their way MUCH quicker than Boston does. Good decision.
Having lived so close to Logan for such a long time, you might be surprised at how many priority landings are still stacked. It is not uncommon to have more than one priority situation at a time. Obviously, the more critical the situation the faster you get landing clearance.
Any child does better in a pediatric environment. When I lived there, I did not risk the kinds of errors that can occur in a hospital more geared for adults. The one time, I figured I could take my kid to a non peds ER, the mistake was colossal. If this little fellow had a run of the mill illness, then EMMC is fine.
What? Rugrats is a slang for kids , I’m so hoping your referring to something else here…
Not that fond of kids either but i would fly with them before the snakes. If you are a snake charmer you would feel right at home.
of course it landed in bangor…nobody cares if we’re infected
Paranoid much?