A group of passengers who were found partying and breaking several Covid norms aboard a chartered flight from Montreal to Mexico have been left stranded after three airlines declined to fly them home to Canada.
Several videos of the party, which is said to have taken place on December 30, were shared on social media, showing unmasked passengers in close proximity. In one video, a large bottle of vodka appears to be passed among passengers and a woman appears to be smoking an electronic cigarette.
According to Canadian media reports, some in the unruly crowd have also tested positive for COVID-19 since then.
Three airlines have refused to take them home. Sunwing Airlines cancelled the return charter flight from Cancun that had been scheduled for Wednesday while Air Transat and Air Canada have also declined to carry the passengers.
The whole incident has caused outrage in Canada, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau saying that he was “extremely frustrated” with the incident.
“It’s a slap in the face to see people putting themselves, putting their fellow citizens, putting airline workers at risk by being completely irresponsible,” Trudeau said at a briefing.
Among those who tested positive include a 19-year-old student from Quebec who said she felt abandoned, not knowing how she’ll pay for her hotel room as her stay is extended indefinitely.
“The organizer just left everybody. I don’t know who’s still here. All the flights have been cancelled,” Rebecca St-Pierre, who is quarantined in a Mexico hotel, told The Canadian Press.
She estimated that about 30 others on the flight have tested positive.