Severe turbulence - dozens injured on flight to Hawaii

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Ambulance in front of Honolulu International Airport

Photo: Uncredited / dpa

During a flight from Phoenix, Arizona, to Honolulu, Hawaii, 36 people were injured - eleven of them seriously - in severe turbulence.

A 14-month-old child and a teenager were also among the injured, US media quoted the authorities on Monday night.

Due to the extreme air turbulence at an altitude of around 11,000 meters, some passengers were thrown out of their seats, it said.

At least one person was hit against the ceiling of the aircraft cabin.

Images of the interior of the Airbus A330-243 show dents and cracks in the ceiling panel.

According to the information, 278 passengers and ten crew members were on board the Hawaiian Airlines plane.

According to the airline, the plane landed at Honolulu's Daniel K. Inouye International Airport around 11 a.m. local time on Sunday.

Honolulu Emergency Medical Services said medical personnel treated the injured passengers and crew.

According to reports, no one was seriously injured.

The passengers suffered head injuries, bruises and lacerations, and some became unconscious.

Turbulence is air movement that occurs unexpectedly and can be caused by cold and warm weather fronts, thunderstorms, jet streams, and also heavy and slow-flying aircraft.

According to the New York Times, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Honolulu said that at the time of the turbulence - around 30 minutes before landing - there was a weather warning for thunderstorms.

"It flew up and hit the ceiling"

Passenger Kaylee Reyes said her mother didn't have a chance to buckle her seat belt, according to the Honolulu Civil Beat website.

"It flew up and hit the ceiling," Reyes said, adding that the turbulence came out of nowhere.

Time and time again, people are injured in turbulence during flights.

In 2019, 30 people needed treatment at Kennedy International Airport in New York, four years earlier 21 passengers were injured on board an Air Canada flight in air turbulence.

wit/dpa