A Canadian North flight to an oilsands mine sat on a runway for three hours before returning to Edmonton after it was discovered a crew member on an earlier flight had been in contact with a coronavirus patient.
A Canadian North flight to an oilsands mine sat for three hours on a remote northern Alberta runway before returning to Edmonton after it was discovered a crew member on an earlier flight had been in contact with a coronavirus patient.
The plane was chartered to fly to CNRL’s Horizon oilsands mine north of Fort McMurray, a passenger told CBC News in an exchange of text messages.
The passenger, who feared losing their job for speaking out, was granted anonymity by CBC.
The plane, carrying 130 employees, flew from Edmonton Tuesday to the Fort MacKay/Horizon Airport where it was grounded on arrival, the passenger said.
The plane remained on the tarmac for almost three hours before a crew member addressed the cabin, the passenger said.
A video obtained by CBC News shows a Canadian North crew member speaking to passengers. CBC has altered the video to blur the face of the crew member due to privacy concerns.
A video supplied to CBC shows a Canadian North crew member addressing passengers aboard a flight that landed at Fort McKay, Alta. about a possible coronavirus contamination. CBC has decided not to identify the crew member due to privacy concerns. 2:19
In the video, the crew member apologizes for the wait before saying, “Supposedly, somebody was indirectly in contact with a presumptive coronavirus patient.”
The crew member also says he was told the risk to those on board was low, but Alberta Health, CNRL and Canadian North management were discussing what to do.
“They didn’t want me to tell anybody anything and finally I said, ‘Someone’s got to know something.’ So this is me trying to put you at ease,” the crew member says on the video “There’s no … very low risk.”
A passenger, who can’t be seen on the video, a