WATCH: Man gets stuck in overhead compartment as Air Europa flight hits turbulence; 40 injured

Published on Authored by C to I News Desk

Dozens of passengers, onboard an Air Europa flight, were injured as the plane experienced strong turbulence, reports said. At least 40 passengers were reportedly injured. The Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner was carrying 325 people from Madrid to Montevideo, when it encountered the mishap, resulting in an emergency landing.

Scenes inside the Air Europa flight. Photo courtesy: x.com/AviacionGYE
Scenes inside the Air Europa flight. Photo courtesy: x.com/AviacionGYE

The flight was diverted in the early hours on Monday and landed in Natal International Airport in northeast Brazil.

The injured were rushed to hospitals and clinics for treatment of abrasions and minor traumas, AFP quoted the health secretariat of Brazil’s Rio Grande do Norte state. Eleven among the injured passengers remain hospitalised.

Meanwhile, videos and images of the situation inside the plane has gone viral on the Internet. It showed ceiling coming loose and people lying on the aisle, injured.

One video showed a man stuck in an overhead compartment. He received help from another passenger and eventually managed to come down.

“This afternoon a plane will take off from Madrid to pick up the passengers and continue the trip to Uruguay. We will expand the information when we have more data,” read a tweet from Air Europa, originally in Spanish.

The incident took place just weeks after a Singapore Airlines flight encountered severe turbulence, resulting in the death of one passenger. The Boeing 777 flight from flying from London to Singapore in May, and had to make an emergency landing in Bangkok.

A Qatar Airways flight from Doha to Dublin too experienced similar turbulence.