Some 300 passengers, most of them Uruguayans, had moments of anxiety due to the very Strong turbulence affected an Air Europa flight travelling to Montevideo from Europe and? had to make an emergency landing at the airport in the Brazilian city of Natal (northeast).
According to the criteria of
Turbulence left some passengers with fractures, cracks and bruisesThe passengers were taken by bus from Natal to Recife, a city located in the south, some 286 kilometers away. From Recife, a plane took them to Montevideo.
The turbulence occurred at around 2:32 a.m. on Monday and 15 ambulances were called to the landing site.
Damage to an Air Europa Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner after making an emergency landing in Natal.
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Passenger Sylvia García told El País: “We thought it was the last day of our lives; The pilot told a passenger that we had dropped 500 meters in 8 seconds, it was more than just turbulence.” “There were people who ended up hanging from the ceiling, very injured, with their legs dangling. I saw people flying and falling,” he said.
Some seats appeared bloodied in photos posted on social media by several passengers. Later, some passengers were seated on plastic chairs on the runway at Natal airport.
Claudio Fernández Arbes, a 43-year-old Uruguayan psychologist, also told AFP about the incident. “It wasn’t turbulence, it was a nosedive. It’s not that the plane shook: it fell,” story.
When the aircraft stabilized, “It felt like a traffic crash.” Many were hit by people or things flyinga child became trapped in the luggage compartments, other passengers were suspended and injured when they fell.
“It was crazy,” Fernandez Arbes said, describing the scene, with passengers covered in blood and screaming.
“It was a few seconds of absolute terror and then a few long minutes of uncertainty and despair,” he added.
Fernández Arbes said that a passenger suffered a pre-infarction and a woman broke her hip. Among the passengers were doctors who treated several injured people, he explained.
“The worst part was the torment of those 40-50 minutes to Natal when we didn’t know what was going to happen. At one point they said we were going to continue to Montevideo and people started to protest,” he said.
The injuries suffered by the passengers of the Air Europa flight
Wilma Dantas, from the Mobile Emergency Service, told the Tribuna do Norte portal that Several people were injured because they had not worn their seat belts and were thrown upwards, hitting their heads.
One man suffered a fractured septum, a woman suffered fractured ribs and had to be assisted in order to breathe, and several people suffered bruises. 23 people had to be admitted to the Walfredo Gurgel hospital in the city of Natal. Two of them were in the most critical condition.
There were a few seconds of absolute terror and then a few long minutes of uncertainty and despair.
The age of those hospitalized ranges from 60 to 65 years old, and most have minor injuries to the head and lower body. Among the injured are nationals of Spain, Argentina, Uruguay, Israel, Bolivia and Germany.
Garcia said many passengers are “absolutely disappointed” with the way they were treated by the company and the lack of information it provided.
“The flight attendants were indeed diligent,” he clarified. In addition, the transfer on the buses was delayed and García said that He suspected that the company was deliberately delaying the trip to Montevideo so that passengers would arrive directly at the airport to board. and thus save the victims from paying for a night in a hotel. “It was a disgrace, as if we were just a cold number for the accounting purposes,” he complained.
Ambulances stand next to an Air Europa Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner after it made an emergency landing in Natal.
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Once the emergency landing occurred, The passengers had to remain for 3 hours inside the aircraft, which was inspected by the firefighters.military police and paramedics. The incident was classified as an accident.
The company explained in a brief statement that “flight UX045 bound for Montevideo was diverted to Natal airport (Brazil) due to severe turbulence.” It added: “The plane has landed normally and the injuries of varying severity that were reported are already being treated.”
The message, which Air Europa wrote on social network X, added: “This afternoon a plane will take off from Madrid to pick up the passengers and continue the journey to Uruguay. We will provide more information when we have more details.”
The Uruguayan Foreign Ministry, for its part, issued a statement in which it explained that it had contacted the Gurgel hospital and that it was “gathering information and monitoring the situation of the Uruguayans hospitalized.”
Ambulances assisting passengers on an Air Europa Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner.
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Turbulence on the rise due to climate change
In May, a 73-year-old Briton was killed and several other passengers and crew were injured when a Boeing 777 operated by Singapore Airlines experienced severe turbulence on a flight from London.
A week later, 12 people were injured during turbulence on a Qatar Airways Boeing 787-9 flight from Doha to Ireland.
Scientists say that So-called clear air turbulence, invisible to radar, is getting worse due to climate change.
According to a 2023 study, the annual duration of clear air turbulence increased by 17% between 1979 and 2020, with the most severe cases increasing by more than 50%.
The American manufacturer Boeing had fatal accidents involving its aircraft in 2018 and 2019 and the detachment of part of the fuselage of an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX aircraft in January.
Juan Pablo Correa
The Country (Uruguay) / GDA and AFP
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