Air France flight diverted to Montreal amid U.S. Ebola travel restrictions

U.S. Customs and Border Protection says an Air France flight bound for the United States was diverted to Montreal after a passenger from the Democratic Republic of Congo boarded “in error” amid flight restrictions tied to the Ebola outbreak.

A spokesperson for the agency says the passenger “should not have boarded” the plane bound for Detroit due to U.S. entry restrictions put in place to reduce Ebola risk.

Online plane tracker FlightAware showed the plane was en route from Paris to Detroit when it landed at Trudeau International Airport on Wednesday.

The U.S. border agency said it was taking “necessary measures” to protect public health in co-ordination with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Canadian health officials did not immediately return requests for comment.

Air France said the passenger was denied entry into the U.S. due to new regulations that travellers from certain countries, including the Congo, can enter only through Washington.

Health officials are on alert as a deadly outbreak of a rare type of Ebola called Bundibugyo ravages the Congo and neighbouring Uganda.

Ontario’s health ministry says one person has been tested for several infectious diseases, including Ebola, out of an abundance of caution due to the person’s travel history.

The Public Health Agency of Canada says samples are expected to arrive at the National Microbiology Laboratory on Thursday.

The World Health Organization has reported almost 600 suspected cases and 139 suspected deaths, though officials believe the scale of the spread is much larger.