Chemical Smell Sickens Passengers on JetBlue Flight, Forces Unplanned Landing at NYC's Kennedy Airport
A chemical smell sickened crew members and passengers Sunday on a JetBlue plane from Newark bound for the Dominican Republic.
The “unusual odor” made crew members and passengers feel unwell during an early-morning flight from Newark Airport that was bound for Santo Domingo, the crew reported. Pilots landed the plane at Kennedy Airport “out of an abundance of caution,” according to a statement from JetBlue.
“We boarded at 6:30 (a.m.), and at 7:28 (a.m.) the pilot announces they have an emergency, a medical emergency,” said passenger Elisa, 55, who was traveling with her sister Miriam from Harrisburg, Pa., to visit their mother in the Dominican Republic.
Elisa smelled a “chemical” odor, which was faint where she was sitting in the rear of the plane, she said.
A photo that Miriam took shows a person in a hazmat suit entering the plane as passengers are still seated.
EMTs tended to sickened passengers on the ground at JFK after people complained of dizziness and vomiting, a source said.
Miriam, 50, said she saw some passengers being given oxygen on the plane but did not notice any vomiting.
Passengers boarded a different plane at JFKat about 11:30 a.m. to continue to Santo Domingo, the sisters said..
The odor-filled Airbus A320 will be inspected before it’s returned to service, according to the airline. The Port Authority is investigating the incident, a spokesman said.
On Saturday, a JetBlue plane bound for Tampa, Fla., was evacuated on the tarmac at Newark Airport after someone shared a picture of a suicide vest to passengers’ and flight attendants’ Apple devices via the AirDrop function.
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