US health authorities met an Emirates flight at JFK International Airport following initial reports that dozens of its passengers were taken ill (KARIM SAHIB)

New York (AFP) – Emirates announced Wednesday that 10 passengers were taken ill on a 14-hour flight from Dubai to New York, where US health authorities met the aircraft and ambulances ferried sick people to hospital.

US media showed images of the double decker A380 aircraft isolated on the tarmac at John F. Kennedy International Airport and reported that the jet had been quarantined.

“Emirates can confirm that about 10 passengers on EK203 from Dubai to New York were taken ill. On arrival, as a precaution, they were attended to by local health authorities,” the airline announced.

All other passengers would disembark shortly, it added.

Eric Phillips, spokesman for New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, said there were 521 passengers on board and that it “appears” that some of the ill passengers had come from Mecca, which is experiencing a flu outbreak.

Pictures posted on social media showed ambulances lined up on the tarmac next to the A380, the largest passenger airliner in the world.

Ambulances were on hand to transport sick passengers, Phillips tweeted. Ten people were heading to Jamaica Hospital, while 250 had already deplaned and been cleared to continue their travel, he added.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey confirmed that Emirates flight 203 landed at 9:12 am (1312 GMT) “with a report of multiple sick passengers.”

“The plane was taken to a location away from the terminal so that medical personnel from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention could board the aircraft to evaluate the situation and provide immediate assistance,” it said in a statement.

Larry Coben, who said he was on board the aircraft, wrote on Twitter that passengers are being asked to fill out a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention form and confirmed that CDC personnel had boarded the aircraft.

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