An Air Europa flight from Madrid to Montevideo encountered severe turbulence on Monday, forcing the carrier and government authorities to make an emergency landing in Brazil, resulting in numerous injuries to passengers.
Early in the morning, the 325-person Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner was redirected to the airport in Natal, northeast Brazil, where more than a dozen ambulances were waiting.
For treatment of “abrasions and minor traumas,” forty passengers were sent to hospitals and clinics in Natal, the health secretary of Rio Grande do Norte state, Brazil, said AFP.
By Monday afternoon, eleven patients were still in the Monsenhor Walfredo Gurgel hospital.
Individuals from Spain, Argentina, Uruguay, Bolivia, Israel, and Germany were among those injured.
Before, Air Europa said that seven passengers had undergone treatment for “various injuries” and that an unidentified number had bruises addressed.
It further stated that a jet was being dispatched from Madrid to pick up the passengers while the damaged Boeing was inspected in Natal.
According to the firm, they would first be transported to Recife, another location in Brazil, from where they would go to the capital of Uruguay.
According to X user Mariela Jodal, who claimed to be a passenger, there were multiple injuries caused by “very strong turbulence,” but she was spared “thanks to the seat belt.”
She sent pictures of shattered ceiling panels with exposed pipes and wires, and another of rescue cars in Natal waiting on the tarmac with flashing lights.
When a Singapore Airlines-operated Boeing 777 encountered extreme turbulence on a trip from London and was forced to make an emergency landing in Bangkok in May, a 73-year-old British man lost his life and several other passengers and crew members suffered injuries to their skulls, brains, and spines.
A week later, on a Qatar Airways Boeing 787-9 aircraft from Doha to Ireland, turbulence caused 12 persons to sustain injuries.
According to specialists in aviation safety, travelers frequently don’t take their seatbelts seriously enough, which puts them in danger in the event of unplanned turbulence.
Additionally, scientists claim that the phenomenon known as “clear air turbulence,” which is imperceptible to radar, is intensifying due to climate change.
According to a 2023 study, from 1979 to 2020, the yearly length of clear air turbulence grew by 17%, with the most severe incidents experiencing a 50% rise.
The incident on Monday was the most recent drama involving a Boeing aircraft. The manufacturer is under close scrutiny after a near-catastrophic occurrence in January, when a fuselage panel burst out of a 737 MAX flown by Alaska Airlines.
This sparked further questions about the company’s manufacturing and safety standards, which were brought up in the wake of two tragic MAX accidents in 2018 and 2019.
The US aviation major revealed in March that CEO Dave Calhoun would be leaving.
