The airlines encountered "unexpected severe turbulence" approximately five hours.
In a shocking incident, a Hawaii Airlines flight from Honolulu to Sydney experienced severe turbulence, which left many passengers flying out of their seats and injured several flight attendants and passengers, as per a report in the New York Post. Three passengers were hospitalised with injuries, including back pain, as per the officials.
On July 1, the airlines encountered "unexpected severe turbulence" approximately five hours into the flight. This caused the ceiling of the plane to "bust open", as per the outlet. Further, oxygen masks were deployed and many people were "shot out" of their seats and ended up hitting their heads on the roof of the plane.
Sultan Baskonyali, a passenger travelling in the turbulent flight, spoke to ABC News and said that the plane "just dropped". "We weren't prepared. There was a man in front of us who had gone all the way up. His head was on the roof. And dropped back down," he added.
The airplane, carrying 163 passengers and 12 crew members, landed "without incident" at Sydney Airport on Friday evening. A New South Wales ambulance spokesperson informed that the emergency services assessed 12 patients and four passengers and three members of the crew were treated by a doctor travelling in the same flight in consultation with physicians on the ground.
"Our immediate priority is to continue to care for our passengers and crew affected by this turbulence event, and we thank Sydney airport first responders for their swift assistance," a Hawaiian Airlines spokesperson told the New York Post. As per the outlet, Hawaii Airlines "conducted a thorough inspection of the aircraft" before returning to Honolulu on Friday evening.
This comes as Sydney airport runways were closed due to worsening winds. Many airlines witnessed flight disruptions, including as many as 100 cancellations and flight delays.