Vanilla Ice on Emirates plane quarantined at JFK: 'This is crazy'

A plane was quarantined on the runway at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport on Wednesday after passengers reported feeling ill on the flight, according to officials with the airliner Emirates.

Update 2:15 p.m. EDT: Rapper Vanilla Ice was among the more than 500 people quarantined Wednesday after several people reported feeling ill on a direct flight from Dubai to New York City.

On Twitter, Vanilla Ice wrote that he was on the top floor of the double decker plane.

“Apparently there is over 100 people sick on the bottom floor, so (I’m) happy I’m up top,” he wrote.

Early reports indicated that at least 100 people became ill while on Emirates Flight 203, but city and airline officials said 10 were taken to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center and nine others refused medical treatment. No other illnesses were reported.

Update 1:30 p.m. EDT: Airline officials said three passengers and seven flight crew members were taken to a hospital Wednesday after they reported feeling ill during Flight 203 from Dubai to New York City.

City officials earlier said nine other people were also sick, but that they refused medical treatment.

The plane has since been cleared by health officials.

Update 12:40 p.m. EDT: Medical personnel have determined that 19 people became sick on Emirates Flight 203 from Dubai to New York City, according to a spokesman for the mayor's office.

Eric Phillips, press secretary for New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, said nine of those who fell ill refused medical treatment. Ten others were taken to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center.

He said officials believe the people who fell ill Wednesday might be suffering from the flu. Some of the passengers on Flight 203 had traveled to Dubai from Mecca, which is dealing with a flu outbreak, Phillips said earlier Wednesday.

Update 11:45 a.m. EDT: A spokesman for New York City Bill de Blasio said Wednesday that some passengers on Emirates Flight 203 had come from Mecca, where a flu outbreak is ongoing.

“It appears some of the ill passengers came from Mecca before getting on (the plane) in Dubai,” Eric Phillips wrote in a tweet.

He said most of the 521 people on the plane had been cleared by 11:40 a.m. At least 10 people were taken to a local hospital for treatment, officials with Emirates confirmed earlier Wednesday.

Update 11:05 a.m. EDT: Ten people were taken to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center for treatment, according to the New York City Mayor's Office.

Eric Phillips, press secretary for New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, said in a tweet that 40 other passengers were cleared to continue on to customs.

“A few others (are) showing symptoms and being held for treatment and possible transport to the hospital,” Phillips said.

He earlier said the plane was carrying 521 people when it landed at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Wednesday morning.

Update 10:45 a.m. EDT: Officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Wednesday morning after passengers fell ill on an Emirates flight from Dubai to New York, according to officials with the New York Mayor's Office.

In a statement, Emirates officials said 10 people reported feeling sick on Flight 203. Earlier reports had indicated that at least 100 people were sickened.

Eric Phillips, press secretary for New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, said on Twitter that there are reports that the plane stopped in Mecca en route to New York, where a flu outbreak is ongoing.

“Early indications point to that as a POSSIBILITY,” Phillips wrote.

He said the plane was carrying 521 people.

Update 10:25 a.m. EDT: In a statement, airline officials confirmed 10 people reported feeling sick on Emirates Flight 203 from Dubai to New York on Wednesday, contradicting earlier reports that at least 100 people had fallen ill.

“On arrival, as a precaution, they were attended to by local health authorities,” Emirates officials said in a statement.

Original story: Emirates Flight 203 was traveling to New York from Dubai on Wednesday when at least 100 of the plane's 500 passengers began to feel sick, WNBC reported.