All passengers disembark Emirates flight in New York after 10 fall ill

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All passengers disembark Emirates flight in New York after 10 fall ill

Dubai - On arrival, the passengers were immediately checked by local health authorities.

By Web Report

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Published: Thu 6 Sep 2018, 6:10 PM

Ten people, including three passengers and seven crew members, fell ill on a New York-bound Emirates flight from Dubai, the airline said on Wednesday. Emirates flight EK203, carrying about 500 passengers, landed at the John F. Kennedy airport shortly after 5pm (UAE time).
The airline said in an initial statement: "On arrival, as a precaution, they were immediately checked by local health authorities and those needing medical attention will be attended to."

A later statement, tweeted by the Dubai Media Office, said: "Emirates can confirm that all passengers have disembarked from flight EK 203. All passengers were screened by the local health authorities prior to disembarkation and three passengers and seven crew were transferred to the hospital for further medical care and evaluation.

"Nine passengers underwent additional medical screening at the site near the aircraft and were released afterwards. The rest of the passengers were allowed to leave and clear customs," the statement said.

"Emirates crew and onground staff extended our full cooperation with the authorities during the onboard screenings and the aircraft has now been handed back to Emirates," the statement added.

 
 
 
The return flight, EK204, from JFK to Dubai will be delayed by approximately three hours. Passengers with connecting flights in Dubai who are impacted by the delay will be assisted with rebookings:
 
Emirates apologised for the inconvenience adding that the safety of customers and crew was top priority:


Raul Contreras, a spokesman for the New York City mayor's office, said 10 of the 19 people on the flight, which landed with at least 521 passengers, were taken to hospitals, while the other nine declined treatment.

"Everyone else was clear," he said in an interview.

The White House was monitoring the situation, spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said, and President Donald Trump was being updated as new information became available.

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."

Diala Makki was travelling first-class en route to New York Fashion Week when she learned from flight crew that a number of people had become sick onboard.

"The Emirates cabin crew were super-helpful, they were not in panic mode, which was amazing," said Makki, 36, a television host from Dubai.
NYPD counter terrorism had also tweeted about the situation:

reporters@khaleejtimes.com


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