British tourists evicted from flight over COVID-19 fears

A video recorded by passengers on board a flight from Bulgarian capital Sofia to London on Wednesday showcased the panic caused by the presence of a group of British tourists. The panicked passengers believed that the group came from the ski town Bansko, which is under lockdown. Some British passengers tried to negotiate with the other passengers. Eventually, the captain announced the deboarding of the suspected novel coronavirus carriers before the flight finally departed from Sofia.

The flight scheduled to depart from Sofia Airport at 8 pm local time on Wednesday was delayed. The delay in departure was caused by passengers panicking over the spread of the novel coronavirus. A group of British passengers were on board the flight as they were trying to return to the United Kingdom. Chaos ensued after other passengers started to protest.

Some of the passengers recorded the incident on their phones. The protesting people were asking the airline staff to remove the suspected novel coronavirus carriers from the flight. One of the British men tried to negotiate with the other travellers. He asked for the group of six to be seated in the back of the flight away from other passengers. The offer did not satisfy the anxious people.

Passengers were heard sharing their opinion about what the British tourists should do. One suggested that a separate flight should take them home since they came from the quarantined city. Another said that the captain should take the call to allow or disallow the group to fly.

Towards the end of the video, the captain is heard making an announcement. He announced that the British travellers would be removed from the flight and they would fly without them. Most of the people on board seemed to rejoice at the decision taken by the captain.

The ski town of Bansko had been put under lockdown after three Bulgarians were infected with the novel coronavirus by a British tourist at a ski resort. The Daily Mail reported that British citizens have been removed from the town before it was placed under lockdown. It remains unknown if the group of ejected passengers were flown back to the UK on another flight.