The second charter flight for Chinese nationals aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship left Japan on Friday. Passengers who were scheduled to board the flight to Hong Kong were delayed after Japanese officials allowed the wrong passengers to disembark.

Passengers on the cruise ship were tested prior to Wednesday and those who had tested negative and did not close contact with confirmed cases were allowed to disembark. However, local officials mistakenly allowed 28 Hong Kong passengers who had close contact with confirmed cases to exit the ship.

Nineteen of them had already checked in at Haneda Airport but were asked to return to the ship. The rest of the passengers remained at the port after the problem was discovered.

Japanese officials are discussing the next steps with officials from the Chinese Embassy and the HKSAR government.