A Chilean LATAM Airlines-operated Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner had a “severe” incident during a flight from Australia to New Zealand, leaving 50 passengers and crew injured and 13 hospitalized.
According to preliminary reports, the airliner experienced a strong shake, froze and plunged dramatically before the pilot managed to regain control and land safely at Auckland Airport. (RELATED: Quality Manager-Turned-Whistleblower Against Major US Company Found Dead)
The flight was scheduled to continue on to Santiago. New Zealand authorities quickly seized the plane’s black boxes and have begun an investigation. Speaking to the press, one eyewitness described the chaotic scene.
As The Hill reports:
“The plane, unannounced, just dropped. I mean it dropped unlike anything I’ve ever experienced on any kind of minor turbulence, and people were thrown out of their seats, hit the top of the roof of the plane, thrown down the aisles,” Brian Jokat, a passenger, told ABC News in Australia.
“Some of the roof panels were broken from people being thrown up and knocking through the plastic roof panels in the aisle ways. And there was blood coming from several people’s heads,” he said.
A number of passengers weren’t wearing seatbelts when the flight suddenly dropped. Jokat said he was one of the “lucky ones” who was strapped in.
LATAM Airlines said the flight was carrying 263 passengers and nine flight and cabin crew members when it experienced “a strong shake.” The company said the cause of the shake is currently under investigation.
“LATAM is working in coordination with the respective authorities to support the investigations into the incident,” the company announced in a statement.
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