Additional Coverage:
An Air Europa Boeing 787 Dreamliner flight from Spain to Uruguay had to be rerouted following an intense bout of turbulence. Captured footage shows a passenger being assisted as they descend from the aircraft’s overhead storage area.
According to a statement provided to Business Insider by Air Europa, the incident resulted in seven individuals sustaining injuries, with a number of others suffering minor bruises. The New York Times has documented that a total of 36 passengers were hurt during the ordeal.
Social media posts have documented the aftermath within the aircraft, highlighting damaged cabin ceiling panels. One particular video showcases individuals aiding a passenger as they are helped down from the overhead bin.
A passenger, identified by the Uruguayan broadcaster Teledoce as Romina Apai, recounted how an individual was propelled into and became lodged within an overhead compartment during the flight’s unsettling episode of turbulence.
“He was lifted up and became wedged between the ceiling and the bin. It took us a moment to locate him,” Apai disclosed.
Another passenger, Evangelina Saravia, shared that the man was trapped in the damaged ceiling area, necessitating aid to bring him down.
“There was a guy hanging between the ceiling’s plastic layer and the metal structure behind it, who had to be helped down,” Saravia detailed to Teledoce, also mentioning a disturbing incident where a baby, believed to be around one year old, was propelled upward against the ceiling.
Following its unscheduled landing in Natal, Brazil, medical teams were dispatched to tend to those aboard the Boeing 787.
Air Europa assured that the aircraft would undergo a thorough inspection to assess the damages and confirmed arrangements for another plane to retrieve the affected passengers, extending gratitude towards the local officials for their prompt response and support.
This recent scare adds to a series of severe turbulence events affecting flights globally. In May, a turbulence-related incident on a Singapore Airlines flight resulted in the death of a 73-year-old passenger and injuries to several others, while a Qatar Airways journey saw 12 people hurt days afterward.
Despite these incidents, statistics from the Federal Aviation Administration indicate that serious injuries from turbulence are quite uncommon, with an average of fewer than 12 people a year sustaining major harm from 2009 to 2022.