Air Europa said on Tuesday that a plane sent by the company arrived to transport the passengers of a transatlantic flight that was diverted to Brazil a day earlier following severe turbulence that injured more than 30 people.
The incident occurred early Monday morning on Flight UX045, en route from Madrid, Spain, to Montevideo, Uruguay, when it encountered turbulence over the Atlantic Ocean. The aircraft was an Air Europa Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner.
Of those on board, 303 traveled to Montevideo, while one has already returned to Spain, and six remain hospitalized in the Brazilian city of Natal along with some companions, according to the statement.
Air Europa noted that the injured, most of whom suffered bruises and contusions, were treated in Natal.
The airline transferred the remaining passengers by bus to the city of Recife, where they boarded a new plane from Madrid sent especially for the trip, and flew to Montevideo in the early hours of the morning.
A man suffered a fractured nasal septum, and a woman cracked ribs and needed assistance to breathe. Twenty-three people had to be hospitalized in the Walfredo Gurgel Hospital. Two of them were in serious condition.
Air Europa said that the pilots had instructed passengers to fasten their seat belts due to the anticipated turbulence, which could not be detected on radar.
The airline added that the plane "will remain under inspection" to determine the extent of the damage.
'I saw people fly'
In local media, passengers recounted the chaos and fear during the incident. "Those not wearing seat belts were thrown into the air, some hitting the roof," a passenger told El Observador newspaper. In photos posted to social media, seats appeared stained with blood.
Videos from the cabin showed injured passengers in neck braces and others lying on their backs in the aisle. One video even depicted a man dangling from an overhead compartment. It was not immediately clear how the passenger got into the bin.
"We flew. I broke the ceiling and all the piping. It's a world that passes through your mind in 20 seconds," the man said to Subrayado.
Passenger Sylvia García told El País: "We thought it was the last day of our lives. The pilot told a passenger that we had gone down 500 meters [1,600 feet] in 8 seconds; it was more than just turbulence."
"There were people who ended up hanging from the ceiling, very hurt, with their legs dangling. I saw people fly and fall," she added.
"It wasn't turbulence; it was a nosedive. The plane didn't just shake; it fell," Claudio Fernández Arbes, a 43-year-old Uruguayan psychologist told the AFP news agency.
When the aircraft stabilized, "it felt like a car crash," Fernández said. He said that many people were hit by other passengers or flying objects that had not been secured.
A two-year-old child was trapped in the luggage compartments, and other passengers were left hanging and got injured upon falling, according to some of the witnesses.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), turbulence can occur unexpectedly due to various atmospheric conditions. While injuries from turbulence are relatively rare, the FAA reported 17 serious injuries in 2022 and six in 2021. In May, an elderly British man died of a suspected heart attack after a severe bout of turbulence struck a Singapore Airlines flight after it had departed London.
The incident on board Flight UX045 added to global concerns over airline safety and whether turbulence could become a growing threat to commercial aviation. Severe turbulence is rare and often avoidable but recent studies have shown that climate change could be increasing the risk.
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