Passengers appear to have the flu
A large commercial jet from Dubai caused a scare after a pilot radioed that it would be landing at New York’s Kennedy Airport carrying several passengers and crew members who fell ill with flu-like symptoms.
The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention immediately quarantined the double-decker Emirates aircraft holding 520 passengers so it could evaluate about 100 of them. Some had complained about coughs, headaches, sore throats and fevers.
Officials said 10 people — three passengers and seven crew members — ended up in hospital in what Emirates called a “precaution”. The rest were cleared to continue their travels while the CDC sought to determine what caused the sickness.
“Given the symptoms that we are seeing in the patients and given the history that they present, it looks like this is probably influenza,” Acting New York City Health Commissioner Dr Oxiris Barbot said. “But again, until we have our final results we won’t be able to give a final determination on what the underlying cause is of this illness.”
On social media, passengers including 1990s rapper Vanilla Ice, posted photos and videos of a large-scale emergency response when the aircraft touched down at JFK. Video from news helicopters showed the jet stranded on the tarmac for several minutes before passengers began to emerge so they could board buses to get to the terminal.
Vanilla Ice, whose real name is Robert Van Winkle, wrote that the sick people were seated on the “bottom floor” of the jumbo jet, “so I’m happy I’m up top”.
Passenger Erin Sykes posted a video of officers in masks and gloves taking the temperature of passengers on the tarmac. 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. “These people should know not to travel in a confined space with other healthy people.”