(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-05-10 09:05

OTTAWA - There is most likely no infectious disease on the train quarantined in Ontario earlier Friday after several passengers fell ill, Canadian health authorities said.

A woman in her 60s died and six other passengers reported sick with flu-like symptoms when the train arrived near the city of Timmins in northern Ontario. The train was then quarantined at the station at Foleyet, a small town near Timmins.

The woman "most likely did not have an infectious disease," Ontario's chief medical health officer, Dr David Williams, said at a press conference in Toronto.

Six other people who reported flu like symptoms also do not appear to pose a threat, he said.

Williams also said the sick passengers do not appear to have been in contact with the woman who died. He said no tests have been done on the deceased woman and the cause of death has not yet been determined.

Williams said that lab tests have been done on the sick passengers and a number of infectious ailments have been ruled out. He also said that those passengers said they felt unwell before getting on the train.

The sick passengers are now in good spirits and a stable condition, he added.

The train, carrying 260 passengers and 30 crew members, was traveling from Vancouver to Toronto. It has left Foleyet and is expected to arrive in Toronto later Friday night.