At least six unrelated passengers reportedly fell ill aboard Frontier Airlines Flight 1397 from Cleveland to Tampa on New Year’s Day, prompting concerns that airport water fountains may have been to blame.
“They were just coming out of nowhere,” passenger Tiffany McKinney told WFLA. “Just throwing up, sick.”
Officials at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport shut down several of the facility’s water fountains after the individuals became ill, CNN reports. An airport spokesperson told CNN that officials were not sure if the fountains caused the sudden illnesses, or even if any of the sick people drank from them, but said they were taken offline for testing out of “an abundance of caution.”
TIME could not immediately reach representatives from Hopkins Airport or Frontier Airlines for further comment. But in a statement, Frontier Airlines said that the cause of the illness is still under investigation, and stressed that “passenger safety is Frontier’s number one priority.”
The sick passengers were evaluated by health officials upon the flight’s arrival in Tampa, WFLA reports, and the roughly 260 other passengers on board had to wait on the aircraft for about 90 minutes before they were cleared to leave. A Tampa International Airport spokesperson confirmed to CNN that the sick individuals were vomiting by the time they touched down in Florida.
