A hazardous materials crew was on the scene at a parking lot at the Pentagon after a woman who claims she was recently in Africa vomited on a tour bus, according to local reports.
ARLnow.com reported that Pentagon Force Protection Agency spokesman Chris Layman said the team was on hand out of “a complete abundance of caution." The woman was transported to a local hospital via an ambulance.
According to a statement released by the agency around 12:30 p.m. Friday, Pentagon Police officers "identified a woman in the Pentagon South Parking Lot, around lanes 17-19, who was ill and vomiting" around 9:10 a.m. At this point, the woman told the officers she had been in Africa, the statement continued.
The Pentagon on Friday closed off part of a parking lot and one entrance as a precaution after a woman who said she returned from Africa vomited outside the building. The woman's actions and her claims that she had been in Africa prompted fears that this could be a possible Ebola case, but it has not been confirmed. (PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images)
"Out of an abundance of caution, all pedestrian and vehicular traffic was suspended around the South Parking lot, while Arlington County responded to the scene. At [9:53 a.m.], the individual was taken to the Inova Fairfax Hospital," Pentagon Force Protection Agency said.
ARLnow.com reported that the woman was sick in the bathroom of the bus before she got off at the Pentagon, which is located in Arlington, Virginia, just outside of Washington, D.C. Layman told the news outlet that passengers on the bus were going to visit the Pentagon Memorial for 9/11.
Members of the Arlington County Fire Department stage operations supporting the HazMat team at the Pentagon South Parking lot area, October 17, 2014. "During the response, the individual indicated that she had recently visited Africa," the agency said in a statement. it said. (AFP/Paul J. RICHARDS/Getty Images)
The Associated Press added that an official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the woman had been on one of the city's Metro buses before she transferred to the tour bus, which was to take passengers to a Marine's changing of command ceremony. The woman got off this bus before it left the Pentagon, according to the AP.
WUSA-TV reported that after the woman got off the bus, the vehicle then moved on into Washington, D.C. Before reaching its destination, the news station reported that the bus was pulled over by police.
Watch the report, which shows the bus in the background:
Crews had cleared the part of the parking lot at the Pentagon they had sectioned off by 1:45 p.m., according to ARLnow.com.
Health Department Director Dr. Joxel Garcia said in a news conference Friday afternoon that test results on the woman would hopefully be available later today. According to WUSA's Bruce Leshan, Garcia said the woman had traveled to Sierra Leone recently, which is one of the countries involved in the current outbreak in West Africa.
Arlington County said that until test results are returned in this "possible Ebola case," it is "taking all precautions [to] ensure public safety."
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This is a developing story.
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