25 passengers on Vancouver-Houston flight fall ill

A United Airlines plane has been pulled from service after several passengers on a flight from Vancouver, British Columbia, to Houston, Texas, felt ill.

Some passengers on Flight 1528 Friday evening were all on the same cruise and “were not feeling well,” the airline wrote in a statement to CTV News.

The plane is currently undergoing a “deep cleaning” before it can return to service “as a precautionary measure”, United Airlines said.

The plane was a Boeing 737 MAX 8 and was carrying 163 passengers and six crew members.

According to the Houston Fire Department, 75 of the passengers were on a cruise together to Vancouver, and 25 of them reported feeling nauseous during the flight.

United did not say which cruise the sick passengers were on.

Travelers in Houston shortly after 6 p.m. CT were sick “because of the cruise,” Martee Black, a spokeswoman for the Houston Fire Department, told CNN.

Houston firefighters arrived at George Bush Intercontinental Airport and evacuated three patients from the plane, but no one was taken to the emergency room, Black said.

“United Airlines is actively coordinating with health authorities to address the situation,” the airline wrote. “Ensuring the health and safety of our passengers and crew remains our top priority.”

With CNN files