Tuesday, July 2, 2024 -At least 30 people were injured on Monday, July 1, after an Air Europa Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner flight hit turbulence over the Atlantic, sending passengers flying out of their seats with one man appearing to have gotten stuck in the overhead bins.
Passengers aboard Flight UX045 from Spain to
Uruguay shared a harrowing video of the damage and aftermath caused by
turbulence.
One customer uploaded a video on X showing
a man stuck in the overhead luggage compartment.
The man’s feet could be seen poking out of
a bin after he was allegedly hurled up there by the turbulence, with a group of
people huddling together to pull him down as a crying baby could be heard in
the background.
Other footage taken by passengers shows
ceiling panels torn off by the impact of the turbulence, oxygen masks dandling
overhead and at least one destroyed seat.
Air Europa said the flight, carrying 325 passengers and bound for the Uruguayan capital, was hit by turbulence while flying over the Atlantic Ocean and was forced to land in Natal, in north-eastern Brazil.
“The plane has landed normally and the
injuries of varying degrees that were recorded are already being treated,” Air
Europa said in a statement.
One passenger, who identified himself as
Norys, said he was enjoying his flight back home from a European tour when the
captain gave a warning about turbulence and urged passengers to remain seated
and fasten their seatbelts
“A long time after that, there was a very,
very slight turbulence, it was barely felt, and from one moment to the next the
plane abruptly fell and we all went up,” Norys told Uruguayan outlet El
Observador.
“Those who did not have seatbelts flew and
some remained hooked to the roof,” he added.
Another passenger, named Juan, echoed other passengers’ description that the whole incident felt like something out of a “horror movie,” comparing it to a near-death experience.
“The sensation was one of terror, feeling
that you are falling and that it does not end,” he told El Observador.
“And you are aware that you are falling at
an incalculable speed. And you felt that it ended there, that you died.”
Uruguay’s Foreign Ministry said the injured
are being treated at the Monsenhor Walfredo Gurgel Hospital, in Natal, with
transportation being readied for them to return to Montevideo.
Air Europa said a new plane will leave
Madrid to pick up any remaining passengers who did not opt to take a bus ride
back to Uruguay.
Watch the videos below.
One of the passengers on board the Air Europa flight that hit turbulence over the Atlantic had to be rescued from the overhead luggage compartment. https://t.co/UKtfioCRU4 pic.twitter.com/vU2BX6HX5z
— Breaking Aviation News & Videos (@aviationbrk) July 1, 2024
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