Report: 75 passengers quarantined after taking ill on T.A.-Toronto flight

Over 75 passengers returning from Tel Aviv to Toronto were placed in quarantine at Pearson airport Tuesday night after a number of travelers from the Birthright program fell ill during the flight, the Toronto Star reported Wednesday.

Air Canada flight 085 from Tel Aviv was carrying 201 passengers at the time of the incident. Many of them were part of Birthright, a program that brings young Jewish Americans and Canadians on guided tours of Israel free of chargem, the newspaper report said.

According to the report, Air Canada representative Angela Mah said that over the course of the flight, three people traveling with the Birthright group fell ill with flu-like symptoms.

"It is our standard operating procedure to have health officials meet the aircraft on arrival in cases like this," said Mah.

"They didn't tell us anything," said 19-year-old passenger Matt Coleman. "They totally kept us in the dark. They did not separate the sick people from the ones who weren't sick. We were all just put in a room, given 'bunny suits' and told to stay put." Coleman added that there were eight people sick on the plane, not three.

The report said that after two hours all the other passengers were allowed to leave with the exception of those who were ill.