Seven passengers are in the hospital with severe but non-life-threatening conditions after turbulence aboard an Air Europa flight from Spain to Uruguay caused dozens of passenger injuries on Monday morning.
According to an article breaking the news by The New York Times, Flight UX045 made an emergency landing in Natal, Brazil, after extreme turbulence left 36 injured. The New York Times reported several passengers experienced neck and skull fractures, with 23 individuals taken to the hospital after landing.
Later reporting by ABC News said that the airline confirmed a total of 40 people were injured with 10 being taken to the hospital. As of Tuesday, ABC News reports that seven individuals remain hospitalized in serious, but not life-threatening conditions.
Air Europa has yet to release a media statement regarding the incident on its website, but the company has made several posts to Twitter/X updating the public on the status of the passengers. The Spanish airline’s most recent post on Tuesday morning said that the non-injured passengers had been flown on UX045A to their original destination at Carrasco International Airport in Montevideo, Uruguay.
“The flight has landed in Montevideo and the passengers have already disembarked,” Air Europa posted in a statement translated from Spanish on Twitter/X. “We apologize for what happened and for the inconvenience caused. We look forward to a speedy recovery of the passengers. We will inform you of any other relevant information. We are available for any questions.”
✈️ DRAMÁTICO
?Pasajero atravesó techo de avión de Air Europa con destino a Montevideo que se metió en una turbulencia y debió aterrizar de emergencia en Brasil.
?El pasajero debió salir del techo por la zona de equipaje de mano.
?✈️Videos pic.twitter.com/wsBzhicADK
— Eduardo Preve (@EPreve) July 1, 2024
The remaining injured are being treated by medical personnel in Natal. Videos taken aboard the Boeing 787 Dreamliner were posted on Twitter/X showing a passenger dangling from an overhead luggage compartment after the turbulence struck.
This incident marks the second of its kind this year after extreme turbulence also injured 30 and killed one person aboard a Singapore Airlines Boeing 777-300ER flight in May. Extreme turbulence of this degree is rare, and the Singapore Airlines incident was the first turbulence-related fatality in years.
