A flight bound for Uruguay from Spain was diverted to Brazil on Monday after encountering severe turbulence, causing dozens of injuries among passengers.
Early on Monday, an Air Europa Boeing 787 Dreamliner hit the air disturbances and began to dive, rattling the 325 passengers and sending some of them flying around the cabin and one reportedly even into an overhead luggage compartment.
The turbulence resulted in dozens of injuries, with some passengers sustaining serious injuries.
“As a result of the event, 7 people were injured of varying degrees, as well as an undetermined number of people with minor contusions,” Air Europa told Fox Business in a statement. “Due to the nature of the turbulence and for safety reasons, it was decided to divert the flight to Natal International Airport in Brazil.”
One passenger on board the flight told Reuters TV in Natal that “there are passengers with fractures and injuries to their arms, faces, and legs.”
“It was a pretty horrible feeling. We thought we were going to die there,” he added after the flight made an unscheduled landing just after 2.30 a.m. local time.
Another passenger told Reuters that “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,” he added.
On Tuesday, Air Europa told Reuters that six individuals were still hospitalized in Natal. Those still able to travel had already left on a substitute plane for the final destination of Montevideo, the airline said.
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