TORONTO -- Passengers aboard a Via Rail train involved in a health scare in northern Ontario were a little weary but in good spirits when they arrived in Toronto early Saturday -- some 11 hours behind schedule after an onboard death and multiple reported illnesses triggered a full-scale biohazard response.
The train from Vancouver pulled into Union Station around 7:30 a.m. ET after spending nine hours quarantined in Foleyet, a tiny hamlet of just 380 people about 100 kilometres southwest of Timmins.
Passengers unload from a Via train at Toronto's Union Station on Saturday after being quarantined near Timmins.
The bulk of the 264 passengers and 30 crew members on board debarked in Toronto, most of them anxious to simply get on with their journey.
Standing at the baggage carousel, Jeff Brisbois and his wife Jessica said they were looking forward to seeing their families and getting home to Halifax.
The seasoned travellers said they were never really nervous about what was happening despite having dined with a woman who was airlifted from the scene with breathing problems.
"We took it pretty much in stride," he said. "Some people were probably slightly anxious, but Via was very good and did their best to keep us informed."
"We had a lot of fun. We'd do it again in a heartbeat," Jessica Brisbois said of their cross-country train trip.
Medical teams in biohazard suits descended on the Vancouver-Toronto train Friday morning in Foleyet after a woman died in a washroom and six Australian tourists who boarded in Jasper, Alta., reported feeling ill with respiratory and flu-like symptoms.
Ontario health officials confirmed Saturday there was no outbreak of infectious disease aboard the train.
The woman's death is still under investigation, but an infectious disease has been ruled out, according to the Ministry of Health.
Four of the five passengers who were ill before they boarded the train in Jasper on Wednesday tested positive for seasonal flu, officials said. But none of the people seated near the group have shown flu symptoms.
Another passenger who experienced symptoms turned out to have a cold, the ministry said. Another woman who was airlifted to hospital with breathing problems is in stable condition but didn't test positive for flu or other respiratory illnesses.
-- The Canadian Press
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