Pox patient barred from boarding flight

A 25-year-old woman on her way to Agartala from Bangalore was grounded in Calcutta on Sunday morning after she was found to be suffering from chicken pox.
“Sushmita Sen, who boarded Air India’s Bangalore-Calcutta-Dibrugarh flight with her parents, did not declare that she had been suffering from chicken pox,” said an airport official.
Aviation rules prohibit people suffering from contagious diseases, such as chicken pox and measles, from flying.
Sushmita, a resident of Bangalore, was supposed to get off at Calcutta and board a connecting flight to Agartala, where she had landed a job.
“An air-hostess had noticed pockmarks on the passenger’s face and enquired about her heath. When she said she was not feeling well, the air-hostess isolated her, allotting her a seat in an empty row,” said an official. When the flight landed in Calcutta at 8.25am, the airline authorities took her to the airport doctor who diagnosed her with chicken pox. The officials then told her that she would not be allowed to board the flight to Agartala.
Airport and airline sources said Sushmita and her parents then left for a relative’s house in Calcutta.
The Air India flight was emptied and fumigated before it was allowed to leave for Dibrugarh.
30/03/09 The Telegraph

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Categories: Air India Domestic Mar 2009, NACIL Mar 2009