Airport staff `caused panic'

Cairo - Staff caused panic at Cairo Airport yesterday by revealing to travellers that a passenger on an outgoing Egyptair flight…

Cairo - Staff caused panic at Cairo Airport yesterday by revealing to travellers that a passenger on an outgoing Egyptair flight was HIV-positive, witnesses said.

Airport officials were forced to open a separate check-in hall after other passengers refused to remain in the same room as a 31-year-old Ethiopian woman who was due to leave for Addis Ababa.

Staff had allowed other passengers to overhear that the Ethiopian had been expelled from Jordan because she had tested positive for the Human Immune-deficiency Virus, which can lead to full-blown AIDS.