A flight affected by "strong turbulence" made an emergency landing in Brazil, resulting in injuries to 30 passengers. Incredibly one passenger even ended up in the overhead bin.
The Air Europa Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, en route from Madrid to Montevideo, encountered the turbulence mid-air, according to the airline. Flight UX045 was diverted to Natal airport in northeastern Brazil while heading towards Uruguay's capital, as stated by the Spanish company on X.
Injured passengers were "receiving attention," the airline confirmed. The aircraft, carrying 325 passengers, hit turbulence over the Atlantic, just before reaching the Brazilian coast, an Air Europa spokesperson reported. The plane landed without further issues and was greeted by a fleet of ambulances.
One of the passengers, Maximiliano, told Reuters, “From one moment to the next, the plane destabilized and went into a dive. The people who didn’t have seat belts went up in the air and hit the ceiling, and they got hurt – those who had seat belts on, not so much."
Another passenger, Stevan, told the news agency: “There are passengers with fractures and injuries to their arms, faces, and legs. There are about 30 people injured. It was a pretty horrible feeling; we thought we were going to die there, but thank God it didn’t happen.”
READ: Severe Turbulence has Increased by 55% in the Last Forty Years
Airport officials noted that some passengers required medical assistance and were transported to the nearest hospital. A local medical team informed Brazilian media that they attended to at least 30 passengers of various nationalities, with 10 being hospitalized. The injuries included cranial fractures and facial cuts caused by passengers hitting their heads during the turbulence.
This incident follows a similar event weeks earlier, where a Singapore Airlines flight experienced severe turbulence over Myanmar, resulting in multiple injuries and the death of a British passenger.
In a statement, Air Europa mentioned that the flight, carrying 325 passengers, was forced to land in Natal due to severe turbulence. The airline ensured that injured passengers were being treated and reported varying degrees of injuries. They arranged for a bus journey to Uruguay from Brazil and announced that an aircraft would soon depart from Madrid to bring back passengers who preferred not to travel by bus. This return flight was scheduled to depart from Madrid on Monday.
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