Over two dozen passengers on a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner plane have been injured after an Air Europa flight hit turbulence over the Atlantic.
Passengers shared horrifying videos of the scene on Flight UX045 from Spain to Uruguay on social media. They are seen flying out of their seats, including one man who appears to be stuck in an overhead bin as his feet dangle from above.
Video footage also shows a group of people huddled together to pull him down as a baby could be heard crying while ceiling panels are visibly torn off. At least one seat was destroyed and oxygen masks were deployed from above.
After getting hit with turbulence flying above the Atlantic Ocean, the plane, carrying 325 passengers to the Uruguayan capital, was forced to land in Natal, in northeastern Brazil, Air Europa said.
“The plane has landed normally and the injuries of varying degrees that were recorded are already being treated,” Air Europa said in a statement.
One passenger told a local outlet that the flight was fine until the captain issued a warning about turbulence and urged passengers to remain seated and fasten their seatbelts.
“A long time after that, there was a very, very slight turbulence, it was barely felt, and from one moment to the next the plane abruptly fell and we all went up,” the passenger, Norys, told Uruguayan outlet El Observador.
He added: “Those who did not have seatbelts flew and some remained hooked to the roof.”
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Another passenger, Juan, echoed the sentiment, saying the near-death experience felt like something out of a “horror movie.”
“The sensation was one of terror, feeling that you are falling and that it does not end,” he told El Observador. “And you are aware that you are falling at an incalculable speed.”
He added: “And you felt that it ended there, that you died.”
Uruguay’s Foreign Ministry confirmed that the injured passengers are being treated at the Monsenhor Walfredo Gurgel Hospital, in Natal, with transportation being prepared for their return to Montevideo.
Air Europa said a new plane will leave Madrid on Monday to pick up any remaining passengers who did not opt to take a bus ride back to Uruguay.