Person who died of hantavirus was ‘briefly’ on KLM flight, says airline

THE HAGUE – A passenger who later died of hantavirus was “briefly” on board a KLM flight from Johannesburg to the Netherlands, but was removed before take-off, the airline said on May 6.

“Due to the passenger’s medical condition at the time, the crew decided not to allow the passenger to travel on the flight,” which was flight KL592 from Johannesburg to Amsterdam on April 25 at 11.15pm local time.

“After the passenger was removed from the aircraft, the flight departed for the Netherlands,” added KLM.

Dutch health authorities are contacting those who were aboard this flight “as a precaution,” KLM said in its statement. AFP