An Emirates flight from Dubai to New York City was quarantined on the ground at John F. Kennedy International Airport this morning after roughly 100 passengers reported flu-like symptoms.
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Rows of ambulances met the A380 on the tarmac after cabin crew told officials on the ground that passengers were coughing and showing signs of fever.
@emirates @EmiratesSupport Flight 203 Dubai to NYC #emirates #emirates203 pic.twitter.com/CYqLXPurEe
— Erin Sykes (@SykesStyle) September 5, 2018
Eric Phillips, press secretary for New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, said 19 people were evaluated for illness on the ground. Ten were sent to local hospitals. Emirates confirmed to The Washington Post that number included seven crew members and three passengers. The remaining nine people refused treatment.
The remaining passengers were allowed to carry on with their travels.
Phillips said health officials are working to determine what caused the sudden outbreak of symptoms on the flight, but the flu is the suspected cause. In a statement, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention said it may follow-up with passengers who showed signs of illness.
Just because this story isn’t concerning enough, Vanilla Ice is also involved. The rapper tweeted that he was one of 521 passengers aboard Flight EK203 when it was quarantined, and posted videos of the awaiting ambulances.
So I just landed from Dubai and now there is like tons of ambulances and fire trucks and police all over the place pic.twitter.com/i9QLh6WyJW
— Vanilla Ice (@vanillaice) September 5, 2018
A subsequent tweet from Mr Ice appeared to show he was on the flight’s top deck, and unaffected by the mystery illness.
This is crazy. Apparently there is over 100 people sick on the bottom floor, so happy I’m up top, it’s a double-decker plane 380
— Vanilla Ice (@vanillaice) September 5, 2018
Now, if you’ll excuse us, we’re going full bubble-baby mode to avoid contact with whatever caused this worrying incident.