Severe turbulence on an Air Europa flight from Spain to Uruguay injured more than two dozen passengers on Monday, officials said. Several suffered neck and skull fractures. This is at least the second case of serious injury caused by turbulence worldwide in less than a month.
Flight UX045 made an emergency landing in the coastal city of Natal, Brazil, early Monday after encountering turbulence more than four hours into departure from Madrid, according to flight data.
According to Brazilian health authorities, some passengers hit their heads during the turbulence, resulting in head, neck and chest injuries. Health and airport officials said 36 passengers were treated for their injuries and 23 were taken to a hospital.
Some of the passengers who were treated suffered shock but did not suffer physical injuries, officials said. As of Monday evening, five passengers were still hospitalized, four of them in the intensive care unit, officials said.
Passengers described a frightening scene on the Boeing 787 jet, with some people flying around the cabin. Two women told the news channel Telemundo that at least one passenger was thrown from his seat and became trapped in the overhead area of the plane.
Two videos posted on social media appeared to show a man lying near or above the plane’s overhead bins and then being helped down by two other passengers. Other photos and videos showed broken ceiling tiles and seats.
“One person got stuck between the plastic ceiling and the metal roof behind it and had to be taken down,” Evangelina Saravia, a passenger from Uruguay, told Telemundo. “The same thing happened to a baby.”
Another passenger, Romina Apai, said she was sitting next to the man who penetrated the ceiling. “He flew and got stuck in the roof or in the trash can – we couldn’t find him,” she told Telemundo. As the plane stabilized, she added, “people fell onto seats or onto other people.”
It is relatively rare for turbulence to cause such serious injuries. According to the Federal Aviation Administration, only 163 serious injuries from aircraft turbulence were recorded in the United States between 2009 and 2022.
But Monday’s episode is the second such case in less than a month. In June, a 73-year-old man died when the Singapore Airlines flight he was traveling on plunged 6,000 feet in minutes. More than 70 other people on that flight were injured.
Turbulence itself is common and is not usually dangerous. It is generally caused by changes in wind speed and direction, including storms and jet streams, and can result in sudden changes in an aircraft’s altitude and speed. Passengers who are not wearing seatbelts can be injured as turbulence can cause them to be lifted from their seats.
Recent studies suggest that climate change may lead to an increase in turbulence as increased carbon dioxide emissions can affect air currents.
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2024-07-02 02:54:55
www.nytimes.com
