A plane of Air Europe that made the route Madrid-Montevideo made an emergency landing early Monday morning in the Brazilian city of Native after “severe turbulence” that left several “injured,” the airline reported.
The Spanish company said on platform X that flight UX045, a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, “bound for Montevideo has been diverted to Natal airport (Brazil) due to strong turbulence.”
“It has landed normally and the injuries of varying severity that were recorded are already being treated.“, he added.
Seven passengers were injured and an “undetermined” number had minor bruises, according to information provided by the company.
The plane landed at 2:32 a.m. local time (5:32 a.m. GMT), according to a note to the agency AFP Zurich Airport Brasil, the concessionaire that manages Natal International Airport.
The Mobile Emergency Care Service (Samu) “removed” 30 people from the plane and, after an assessment, transferred some of them to nearby hospitals, mainly to the Monsenhor Walfredo Gurgel Hospital, according to a statement from the Rio Grande do Norte state government.
The Samu, which was mobilized by the Natal airport concessionaire, 15 ambulances were used for the transfer of the most affected travelers, who suffered “minor orthopedic trauma” and “abrasions,” he detailed to EFE the Ministry of Health.
The Uruguayan Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the passengers “who needed medical attention were immediately transferred to the Monsenhor Walfredo Gurgel Hospital in the city of Natal and are being treated.”
“There are between 25 and 30” but the number is not definitive and some were discharged, he told the AFP a Uruguayan diplomatic source.
“Most of them suffered “minor trauma” and “a priori, no one’s life is at risk,” he said.
The plane will remain under review to determine the extent of the damage and Air Europa will send an aircraft in the next few hours to pick up the affected passengers, sources from the company said.
Passengers’ stories: “There were children flying”
Several passengers recounted the terrifying moments of turbulence to a Uruguayan media outlet. Passengers said that some people, many of them not wearing seatbelts, hit the roof of the plane, which broke off in several sections, and that other passengers even ended up stuck in the luggage compartments, and several people had to help them get out.
Norys, a Venezuelan passenger living in Uruguay, said that the flight was going normally until when she was an hour from South America in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, the pilot reported that the plane was going to “enter a zone of turbulence” and asked the passengers to put on their seat belts and remain seated.
“A long time after that, There was very slight turbulence, it was barely noticeable.and from one moment to another abruptly the plane falls and we all rise. Those who They were not wearing seatbelts, they flew away and some of them got stuck to the ceiling.. Hard as 3.5 seconds”he told the Uruguayan media.
Juanan Argentine passenger living in Uruguay, also quoted by the same media, said that the pilot told him that had experienced “clear air turbulence”anomalies that “They can’t detect the plane’s radars” and? caused the ship to crash around 500 meters steeply.
“The sensation was terrifying, feeling like you were falling and that it was never going to end. And you were aware that you were falling at an incalculable speed. And you felt like it was going to end there, that you were going to die. Until we started to see on the screen that the plane was starting to go up,” said the man.
“Rather than turbulence, we plummeted for 8 seconds. There were children flying”said Federico, a Uruguayan passenger who was traveling with his parents and who woke up when the fall began.
Juan Pabloanother Uruguayan passenger, said that the plane entered an “air well”and felt a strong “shake”. He lived through it all as if I were in a “horror movie”and said that at the time of the abrupt descent “all the people flew into the air”according to a Uruguayan media.
This episode adds to other similar incidents that have occurred in recent months.
In May, A 73-year-old Briton has died and several other passengers and crew on a Singapore Airlines flight from London to Singapore have suffered serious injuries. during violent turbulence.
Scientists point out that the Climate change may cause more turbulence andin flights, sometimes invisible on radar.
According to a study carried out in 2023, the average duration of turbulence increased by 17% between 1979 and 2020, and severe turbulence, which is less common, increased by more than 50%.
Source: Infobae