- An Air Europa flight from Spain to Uruguay was diverted to Brazil after encountering severe turbulence.
- The New York Times reported that 36 passengers were injured, some with neck and skull fractures.
- This is the latest in a string of turbulence-linked plane emergencies of late.
An Air Europa flight from Spain to Uruguay was forced to divert to Brazil after severe turbulence hit the flight, injuring more than 30.
The Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner traveling from Madrid to Montevideo on Monday made an emergency landing at 2:32 a.m. local time at Natal Airport in northeastern Brazil, per FlightRadar24.
The airline posted on X on Monday: "Our flight UX045 bound for Montevideo has been diverted to Natal airport (Brazil) due to strong turbulence."
Nuestro vuelo UX045 con destino a Montevideo se ha desviado al aeropuerto de Natal (Brasil) a causa de fuertes turbulencias. El avión ha aterrizado con normalidad y los heridos de diversa consideración que se registraron ya están siendo atendidos.
— Air Europa (@AirEuropa) July 1, 2024
It added: "The plane has landed normally, and the minor injuries that were reported are already being treated."
The New York Times reported that at least 36 passengers were treated for injuries, and 23 were taken to hospitals, citing the Brazilian public health authorities. Some passengers had neck and skull fractures, per The Times.
Local news outlet G1, citing medical personnel on the ground, reported that several passengers hit their heads during the turbulence and suffered fractures, facial injuries, and chest pains.
In an email statement to BI, the airline said: "The injured, most due to blows and bruises, were treated at various hospitals in the area."
Speaking to Spanish-language media outlet Telemundo, passenger Evangelina Saravia from Uruguay described the scene inside the aircraft.
"A person was left hanging between the plastic ceiling and the metal roof behind it, and they had to be brought down," she said to Telemundo. "The same thing happened to a baby."
Another passenger, Romina Apai, told Telemundo she was sleeping when the incident occurred. She heard screaming, then "there was the smell of blood" in the cabin, she said.
The airline said in later updates on X that passengers stuck in Natal were being moved to the nearby city of Recife, where the airline could provide "better service" to them.
Air Europa added that they would be picked up by another plane from Madrid, which would bring them onward to Uruguay.
The turbulence-hit plane had a capacity of up to 339 passengers, per Air Europa's website. G1 reported that 325 passengers were on board Monday's flight.
"The airline expects a quick recovery of the affected passengers and is available to all its customers to assist them in whatever may be necessary," the airline said in a statement.
The incident is the latest in a string of turbulence-related plane emergencies that have emerged recently.
The most severe one occurred in May when a Singapore Airlines Boeing 777-300ER airplane encountered turbulence so severe that the plane dropped 178 feet in four seconds.
The flight from London to Singapore was cruising at an altitude of 37,000 feet over Myanmar when it was thrust up and down rapidly for 62 seconds, leading to one death and over 100 injuries.
Separately, on June 16, an Air New Zealand A320 flight ran into severe turbulence, which caused a crew member to hit the cabin ceiling and a passenger to be scalded by hot coffee.
July 5, 2024, 5:28 a.m. — This story has been updated to reflect a statement from Air Europa.