SHANGHAI - A plane sent to fetch 98 Chinese citizens from Mexico arrived in Shanghai Wednesday afternoon. All onboard were in normal condition, the city's quarantine bureau said.

Chinese citizens walk down from the chartered plane sent to fetch them from Mexico, the epicenter of the A (H1N1) flu, after the plane arrived in Shanghai Wednesday afternoon with 98 passengers on board. [Xinhua] Mexicans fly back home from Shanghai

The plane landed at Pudong International Airport at 4:32 p.m. The passengers, along with a Shanghai-based infectious disease specialist who accompanied them on the flight, were sent to a hotel for quarantine.

Exams by quarantine officials showed that the passengers and the specialist, Lu Hongzhou, had normal body temperatures.

Lu told Xinhua by telephone that he was meant to treat passengers if they took sick en route and make sure the disease did not spread on the plane.

"We prepared plenty of medicine and instruments and made a detailed response plan," he added.

Each of the passengers received a letter of apology and a Shanghai World Expo mascot, Haibao.

The Shanghai Quarantine Bureau checked the health of all the people on the plane on its arrival, and sterilized the aircraft, luggage and waste.

The plane picked up 79 Chinese nationals in Mexico City and 19 others in Tijuana. It left Guangzhou for the two Mexican cities Monday but was delayed by bad weather.

China suspended direct flights from Mexico to Shanghai starting Saturday after a 25-year-old Mexican man, who arrived in Shanghai Thursday on board flight Aeromexico 098, was later diagnosed with A/H1N1 flu in Hong Kong and put into quarantine.

Medical workers conduct examination of Chinese citizens onboard the chartered plane that arrived in Shanghai from Mexico Wednesday afternoon May 6, 2009. [Xinhua] 

A Chinese passenger leaves a bus to walk to a hotel after flying back from Mexico, in Shanghai May 6, 2009. [Agencies]