Czech Airlines Says Only Warned About TB Patient After Plane Landed in Montreal

TORONTO (CP) – Czech Airlines has backtracked on an earlier claim that it turned the man at the centre of an international disease investigation over to health authorities in Montreal after transporting him to Canada from Prague last week.

The airline is now saying in a statement that it was only learned there was a no-fly order issued for the man several hours after the plane bearing him arrived in Montreal.

Spokesperson Daniela Hupakova says the airline received word of the no-fly order from the U.S. Transportation Security Administration at about 11:30 p.m. Prague time on May 24.

The flight arrived in Montreal at 9:08 p.m. Prague time, or 3:08 p.m. local time.

The man, who has since been identified as Atlanta lawyer Andrew Speaker, rented a car in Montreal and crossed into the United States at Champlain, N.Y., a few hours later, at 6:18 p.m.

Jean Riverin of the Public Health Agency of Canada says the first notification Canadian authorities received that a man with this dangerous strain of TB had passed through Canada arrived from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control the next morning, at 5:49 a.m.