A boeing 737 en-route from Malaga to Copenhagen made an emergency landing at Madrid Barajas airport, after the crew suspected one of the passengers, a Danish man of 87 years of age, was suffering from Influenza A (previously know as swine flu).

Upon declaring the emergency to air traffic controllers, the aircraft was allowed to land and was then escorted to a remote area of the air filed, with all passengers and crew facing quarantine.

Medical staff boarded the aircraft and examined the passenger, who had actually suffered a stroke on the flight. He was transferred to a hospital in the city and the rest of the passengers were allowed to continue their journey after a 16 hour delay.

This is the second false alarm in a single day at Barajas. A child was hopitalised after she was found to be suffering a fever having landed on a flight from Mexico. Closer examination diagnosed the child as suffering from pharyngitis, not influenza, but the diagnosis was only made after the aircraft had been disinfected.

Madrid is not the only location of false alarms, a Delta Airlines flight to El Prat airport in Barcelona, with 300 passengers on board,  was put into quarantine, but this was discovered to be false after one hour, so the passengers were allowed to leave.