Passengers on quarantined plane diagnosed with influenza

NEW YORK (FOX5NY.COM) - Ten passengers who became sick aboard an Emirates Airline flight from Dubai to John F. Kennedy International Airport were diagnosed with influenza.

The press secretary for NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio posted an update to Twitter Thursday morning.

Eric Phillips wrote: "Test results on the 10 hospitalized patients find influenza. Some tests came back inconclusive on other viruses, which is common. They'll be re-administered this morning. All 10 patients will be kept in the hosipital as a precaution until we know those final results."

Emergency personnel responded to reports of sick passengers aboard the flight arriving at JFK on Wednesday morning. Hazardous materials crews responded to the jetliner just after it landed at 9 a.m. The plane was quarantined, according to mayor's office.

An airport source told Fox 5 News that a medical emergency happened on the plane.

In a statement, Emirates said that "about" 10 passengers became ill and local health authorities were alerted "as a precaution." But U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials responded to the plane to evaluate about 100 of the 521 people aboard Flight EK203 from Dubai who complained of illness, including a cough and a fever.

The plane had stopped in Mecca, which is the midst of a flu outbreak, Fox News reported.

The CDC reportedly examined passengers away from the main terminal to make sure that a possible contagious disease would not spread.

A New York Police Department counter-terrorism division tweeted that it was monitoring what appeared to be a "medical situation."

After spending about an hour or more on the tarmac, everyone on the flight filled out CDC paperwork, deplaned individually, and allowed medical personnel to take their temperatures. Then they boarded buses and again waited outside customs for some time before being admitted to the country.

In the end, ambulances carried just three passengers and seven crew members to a hospital, the airline said.

Rapper Vanilla Ice was on the plane. He tweeted a video from his view on the jet's upper deck.

-- Erin Sykes (@SykesStyle) September 5, 2018

The Associated Press contributed to this report.