United plane undergoing 'deep cleaning' after cruise ship passengers fall ill on Vancouver-Houston flight

A United Airlines Boeing 787 approaches for landing in Lisbon, Saturday, Sept. 2, 2023. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)

A United Airlines plane is being removed from service after several passengers on a flight from Vancouver to Houston, Texas, felt sick.

Some passengers on Flight 1528 Friday night had all been on the same cruise and “did not feel well,” the airline wrote in a statement to CTV News.

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

The aircraft was a Boeing 737 MAX 8 and carried 163 passengers and six crewmembers.

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

United did not say which cruise the sick passengers had been on.

The travelers in Houston shortly after 6 p.m. CST were ill “due to the cruise,” Martee Black, a spokesperson for the Houston Fire Department, told CNN.

The Houston Fire Department arrived at George Bush Intercontinental Airport and evacuated three patients from the plane but no one was transported 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 files from CNN