Mystery illness leaves 'up to 100' passengers sick on Emirates flight
A mystery illness has left 100 passengers sick on an Emirates flight, as 90s rapper Vanilla Ice watched from business class.
The commercial jet flying from Dubai to New York prompted a large-scale emergency response at JFK Airport on Wednesday, after a pilot reported that several passengers and crew members were complaining about having a flu-like illness.
The Emirates flight, arriving at 9.10am with 520 passengers, was swarmed by police vehicles and ambulances and immediately quarantined for an assessment by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Passenger Erin Sykes posted video of officials wearing masks and gloves taking the temperature of passengers on the tarmac.
In an interview, Ms Sykes said she saw a few passengers being taken off the plane first for medical attention, but she added that “many, many” others were showing signs of illness.
“Very intense coughing. Violently sick. Going into the bathroom a lot,” she said when asked to describe the scene.
By the afternoon, there were still conflicting reports about how many people were sick and unanswered questions about the cause.
The airline said about 10 passengers needed medical attention “as a precaution,” while the CDC said about 100 of the 520 people aboard the plane were being evaluated after complaining of illness, including cough and fever.
A spokesman for New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said 10 people were hospitalised and another eight were being treated at the airport.
Video from news helicopters showed the jet stranded on the tarmac for several minutes before passengers began to emerge. Those who were cleared were put on buses to get to the terminal.
A traveller in the business section of the aircraft, Raghida Dergham, said in an interview that sick passengers were in a “lower level” economy section of the plane.
“I feel great. I feel fine,” she said.
“Nobody was alarmed… It was handled very well.”
1990s rapper Vanilla Ice, also known as Robert Van Winkle, tweeted about his experience on the plane.
“So I just landed in New York coming back from Dubai and now I’m stuck on the runway with like 1000 police, ambulances, fire trucks, this is crazy,” he tweeted.
“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.”
But other passengers said they suspected that some passengers were sick before they got on the plane and that the airline should have done more to protect others.
“Why did they allow them on the flight? I sat with them for 13 hours. If it’s a virus, we’re all getting sick,” Srinivasa Rao said.
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Ms Sykes partly faulted the ill passengers themselves.
“These people should know not to travel in a confined space with other healthy people,” she said.
Emirates tweeted that all passengers have disembarked from the affected plane after health screenings. The aircraft has been handed back to the airline.
