The Associated Press reports that a flight from Baltimore-Washington International Airport was delayed and the plane disinfected Friday night after several passengers became ill on board, airport officials said. Four passengers were taken to local hospitals, apparently suffering from food poisoning, authorities said.
AirTran flight 497 to Orlando, Fla., was delayed before 8 p.m. when 10 passengers complained of feeling ill and four vomited before the plane left the gate, said Tracy Newman, a spokeswoman for BWI.
All passengers left the plane and the craft was disinfected, Newman said. It was expected to depart for Orlando before midnight Friday.


The stricken passengers were part of a 75-person tour group, mostly of teenagers, who had visited Washington by bus for sightseeing Friday. On the bus ride, passengers were given a box lunch of chicken caesar salad, which some complained had didn’t taste right, Newman said.
The tour group all decided to stay in Maryland until their traveling companions are well enough to travel, Newman said.
The condition of the patients or what hospitals they were taken to could not be determined late Friday.