Public health agency ends probe into Air France passenger that sat in blood-soaked area

Canada’s public health agency has ended an investigation opened after an Air France passenger said he sat amid the uncleaned remnants of a previous passenger’s hemorrhage, concluding that nothing was found on board that could spread communicable diseases.

The Public Health Agency of Canada had opened the probe citing its mandate to ensure that anything brought into the country on a conveyance does not threaten public health.

The agency says its investigation included cooperation with Air France, the Greater Toronto Airport Authority and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and determined that there was “no person or substance on board that could cause the spread of a communicable disease.”

RELATED: Public health agency investigates after Air France passenger sat in blood-soaked area

Passenger Habib Battah told The Canadian Press that after boarding a June 30 flight from Paris to Toronto, he noticed a strong manure-like odour and noticed a large stain on the floor in front of his seat.

I've seen a few things in my life, but the horrific blood-soaked carpet on my @airfrance plane yesterday was another level! An hour into the transatlantic flight from Paris to Toronto, I kept smelling something gross and couldn't figure it out. Until I got up and looked down…(1 pic.twitter.com/if919aLlO8

— Habib Battah (@habib_b) July 1, 2023

Battah has said he alerted the cabin crew about the stain and was then given cleaning supplies in response; after wiping the floor beneath his seat, the cloth came out “blood red.”

Battah said cabin crew later told him someone had suffered a hemorrhage in his seat on a previous flight and that he could not change seats as the flight was full — instead, they gave him latex gloves and more wet wipes.

“My instinct was, I can’t sit with this. I can’t smell this. I have to get it off, and no one was helping me do it. So, I just did it myself,” he said, adding that blood from the floor got on his shoes as well.

Air France had confirmed that a customer became unwell on a previous flight and “soiled” his seat.

The airline said an internal investigation has been launched to understand the series of events that led to the situation.