A United Airlines flight from Houston to Boston was forced to make an emergency landing in Washington, D.C. on Sunday after a passenger-involved "biohazard" incident left crew members vomiting.
Records show Flight 2477 departed from George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Texas, at 9:39 a.m. and was diverted to Dulles International Airport in Northern Virginia, landing at 1:36 p.m.
While United's website initially described the reason as "an urgent customer situation," per WCVB, a radio traffic recording shared on X indicates that whatever happened -- the crew couldn't handle it.
"It's quite bad back there. It's still really bad. The crew is vomiting and passengers all around are asking for masks," says a voice on the recording. "Especially this kind of being a biohazard, I think we need to probably get this plane on the ground ASAP."
At the time, the plane was carrying 155 passengers and six crew members.
In a statement to multiple outlets, United said the flight was diverted after "a customer experienced a medical issue." The plane underwent a "deep clean" and departed for Boston with passengers at 5:17 p.m., the airline added.
According to USA Today, the flight eventually arrived in Boston more than five hours late.