An Air Europa flight from Madrid to Montevideo made an emergency landing in Brazil after it was hit by severe turbulence that left passengers stuck inside overhead bins and dozens of others with head, neck and chest and chest injuries. The plane, a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner with 325 people on board, was diverted in the early morning hours to the airport of Natal in northeast Brazil, where more than a dozen ambulances waited.
Videos from inside the plane have surfaced on social media which shows passengers helping a fellow flyer out of an overhead bin storage area. It remains unclear how the man came to be lodged in the space. Several passengers said that those not wearing seatbelts were thrown from their seats by the strong turbulence, hitting the ceiling.
Watch the video here:
The Spanish airline announced in a post on X that the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner had been travelling from Madrid to Uruguay when the incident took place.
"Our flight UX045 bound for Montevideo has been diverted to Natal airport (Brazil) due to strong turbulence," the airline wrote on X in a translation from Spanish. "The plane has landed normally and the minor injuries that were reported are already being treated."
Several pictures on social media show broken ceiling panels, with pipes and wires visible.
Forty passengers were taken to hospitals and clinics in Natal for treatment of "abrasions and minor traumas," the health secretariat of Brazil's Rio Grande do Norte state told AFP.
Eleven remained hospitalized at the Monsenhor Walfredo Gurgel hospital by Monday afternoon.
Among the injured were nationals of Spain, Argentina, Uruguay, Israel, Bolivia and Germany.
Air Europa earlier said seven passengers had been treated for "various injuries" while an undisclosed number received medical attention for bruises.
It added a plane was being sent from Madrid to collect the passengers while the stricken Boeing was examined for damage in Natal.
