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A Lufthansa plane lands at Frankfurt Airport (symbol image)
Photo: Boris Roessler / dpa
Due to severe turbulence, a Lufthansa plane made an unscheduled landing in Washington on Wednesday evening on its way from the USA to Frankfurt am Main.
Individual people were slightly injured by the turbulence, said a company spokesman when asked by the German Press Agency.
The affected passengers were given first aid on board by the flight attendants trained for these cases.
After flying through the turbulence, the cockpit crew of flight LH469 then decided to make an alternate landing at Dulles International Airport, it said.
We regret the inconvenience caused to the passengers.
The air movements were so-called clear-air turbulence, which could occur without visible weather phenomena and advance warning, it said.
The machine, which started in Austin, Texas, was caught in turbulence 90 minutes after taking off.
According to US media reports, the airport operator – the Metropolitan Washington Airport Authority – and the US aviation authority FAA said seven people had been taken to hospitals.
Similar incident on way to Mauritius
Almost at the same time, a plane belonging to the Lufthansa subsidiary Condor encountered turbulence.
A Condor spokeswoman said around 20 injuries to passengers and crew members were registered on a flight from Frankfurt to Mauritius on Wednesday.
People would be medically examined.
Some had bruises.
No information was given about the exact severity of the injuries.
The plane with 272 passengers and 13 crew members got into turbulence about two hours before landing at the airport near the capital Port Louis.
The plane landed safely at 6:29 a.m. local time.
Flight DE 2314 took off from Frankfurt am Main on Wednesday at 4:10 p.m.
There was damage in the cabin of the machine that now needs to be examined.
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.
bam/dpa
