Fears of coronavirus keep Chinese visitors confined to airplane on tarmac in Haiti
The drama over where flights from China can now land hit Haiti Friday when a private plane ferrying Chinese passengers landed on the tarmac in Port-au-Prince after being denied the right to land in the Bahamas and the neighboring Dominican Republic.
Ernst Renaud, the director of operations at the Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Port-au-Prince, told the Miami Herald the flight had originated in Dubai with a final destination of the Bahamas. The Bahamas, however, denied the passengers entry over fears of the coronavirus outbreak, which continues to spread and has been declared a global health emergency by the World Health Organization.
The flight then turned around and went to the Dominican Republic where it refueled and then flew to Port-au-Prince. Wilson Lamour, an assistant to Renaud, said airport officials were unaware of the flight and it did not have permission to land. Once in Haiti, everyone was kept on the airplane due to the health risk.
“They are not being allowed to disembark for all of the reasons that you are aware of, the possibility of transmission of the coronavirus,” Renaud later said.
Lamour said the flight had a three-member crew and 11 passengers, including Chinese nationals. The pilots had run out of time and were being allowed to rest on the aircraft with the passengers.
Eddy Jackson Alexis, a government spokesman, said France and Portugal both agreed to accept the aircraft and its passengers. The pilots, he said, chose Portugal and were expected to depart Haiti at 2 a.m. Saturday.
“All measures are being taken to ensure that they do not physically come in contact with the Haitian territory,” said Alexis, who added that police officers were guarding the plane and making sure its doors remained shut.
Earlier this week, the Bahamas government announced a travel ban, restricting all travel from China.
Under the ban, any non-resident of the island chain, regardless of nationality, who has visited China in the last 20 days will be denied entry into the Bahamas, the country’s tourism ministry announced this week. Meanwhile, all residents returning to the Bahamas will be quarantined and monitored for development of symptoms for the duration of the incubation period with a maximum of 14 days.
China says the death toll from the virus has risen to 259 and the number of confirmed cases has risen to 11,791.
Neither Haiti’s minister of health nor public works, which oversees the airport, responded to phone calls and text messages from the Herald. But Foreign Minister Bocchit Edmond confirmed that precautions were being taken due to the possible public health risk the plane’s passengers may present.
Edmond said a team of specialists with the health ministry, along with representatives of the Pan-American Health Organization, were on the tarmac.
