An Air Europa flight from Spain to Uruguay was diverted after it encountered severe turbulence. The Boeing 787 Dreamliner flight was en route to Montevideo when it had to divert early Monday morning. This incident is the latest in a series of cases involving severe turbulence in recent months. In May, a 73-year-old Singapore Airlines passenger died due to turbulence, and a Qatar Airways flight had 12 people injured just days later. Severe injuries from turbulence are rare, with less than 12 people seriously injured by turbulence on average each year between 2009 and 2022 according to data from the Federal Aviation Administration.
Passengers onboard the flight described a scary incident where a person appeared to get stuck in an overhead luggage bin due to the turbulence. Romina Apai and Evangelina Saravia both shared their accounts of the person getting stuck in the damaged roof of the cabin. Medical services attended to the injured passengers after the plane landed in Natal, Brazil. Seven people were injured, with an “undetermined number” suffering minor bruises, according to a statement from Air Europa. Images shared on social media showed damage to the cabin’s ceiling panels.
The severity of this incident raises questions about safety measures on modern aircrafts and calls for more research into how best to protect passengers during extreme weather conditions. It is important that airline companies take steps to ensure that their planes are equipped with adequate safety features and that pilots receive proper training on how
