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Watch: Passenger rescued from overhead bin after severe turbulence on Air Europa flight
At least 30 people on an Air Europa flight were left with injuries after their plane was hit with severe turbulence on Monday.
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At least 30 people on an Air Europa flight were left with injuries after their plane was hit with severe turbulence on Monday.
The Air Europa Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner was flying from Spain to Uruguay when the incident occurred, reported BBC. The flight was diverted to Brazil before it could reach its destination - the Uruguayan capital of Montevideo.
"Our flight bound for Montevideo was diverted to Natal due to strong turbulence," Air Europa said in a statement. "The plane landed normally, and those injured are already being treated."
More than two dozen passengers on the flight received varying degrees of injuries, with one person seemingly being thrown into the overhead luggage compartment. A viral video shows the person being rescued from the overhead bin. The video shows his fellow passengers helping him down, feet-first, as the turbulence subsided.
Take a look at the video below:
Meanwhile, other videos being shared on social media show oxygen masks dangling above the seats and the aircraft’s ceiling panels destroyed.
Some passengers required medical assistance after the ordeal. Around 10 were transported to a nearby hospital after the flight landed in Brazil.
Mariela Jodal, a passenger on the Air Europa flight, said on X that she was wearing her seatbelt and was therefore safeguarded from serious injuries, unlike other passengers who were hurtled towards the ceiling.
This was echoed by another passenger on the Madrid to Montevideo flight. “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,” one of the passengers, Maximiliano, told Reuters.
People who hit the ceiling suffered cranial fractures and cuts to the face, a local medical team told Brazilian media.
A similar nightmare had unfolded in May this year when a Singapore Airlines flight experienced severe turbulence mid-air. A British man lost his life on the flight, possibly due to a heart attack brought upon by the sudden shaking.
