Newark airport traffic stopped over ‘airport emergency’

No arrivals or departures are being allowed at New Jersey’s Newark Liberty International Airport because of an unspecified “airport emergency,” the airport said on Twitter Saturday morning.

Officials with the airport or the Federal Aviation Administration couldn’t immediately be reached for comment about the emergency.

But a passenger aboard a United Airlines flight, John Murray, told CNN his plane was diverted to Newark shortly after taking off from New York’s LaGuardia Airport on Saturday morning.

“All I know is that 10 minutes after takeoff we weren’t getting much altitude, we were just circling around northern New Jersey and not going anywhere,” he said. “That’s when we landed … at Newark.”

“Emergency crews ushered us out of the plane” after landing, he said.

“I spoke with one of the emergency crews who told us that apparently, we had a flat tire and there was something about friction … and that possibly there was smoke, and that’s why we had to make the emergency landing.”

All passengers eventually were taken to a terminal, Murray said. He said was looking into getting another flight.

His plane, United Airlines Flight 2098, had been bound for Houston’s George Bush International Airport .

Newark airport made its announcement about the ground stop around 8:45 a.m. ET. United couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.