Plane from Mexico held on Md. tarmac as officials examine 2 ill passengers out of caution

Plane from Mexico held to check 2 ill passengers

LINTHICUM, Md. — Airport officials say 117 passengers were briefly detained on an AirTran Airways plane that flew to a Maryland airport from Mexico because two people on board were sick.

Airport spokesman Jonathan Dean says Flight 85 landed at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport from Cancun, Mexico.

Dean says the airline reported two male passengers with nausea and fever. The plane taxied to the international gate, where it was met by the airport’s fire and rescue department.

The men did not have respiratory symptoms consistent with swine flu, which has sickened dozens in the U.S. and turned deadly in Mexico. After being in touch with state and federal health authorities, officials released the men and the other passengers.