A paramedic walks among passengers of flight LA800, after landing in Auckland (New Zealand), on March 11. Brian Adam Jokat (via REUTERS)
Panic and uncertainty.
These were some of the sensations described by the passengers of flight LA800 on the Sydney-Auckland-Santiago route of the Chilean-Brazilian airline Latam, which last Monday suffered a technical incident shortly before arriving at its stopover in New Zealand. which left 13 people hospitalized.
Some of the occupants of the aircraft arrived in Chile on Tuesday, and gave their testimony about the strong shake that hit the cabins.
Verónica Martínez, one of the passengers who was on the accident flight, described the strong movement she perceived inside, which dislocated those who were in their seats.
“There was no turbulence, nothing.
Suddenly everything went off and [the plane] went upside down, like a roller coaster, and then went up,” the Chilean told the local press during her arrival at Santiago Airport.
The traveler also detailed the situation of the rest of the passengers, who suffered various injuries.
“The people who were not wearing seat belts, who were coming out of the bathroom, the same stewardesses who were walking.
What impressed me the most was that a woman behind me was with a baby, and I saw the baby fly.
It was terrible,” Martínez described.
The damage caused to the roof of the cabin of the Latam plane, on March 11. Brian Adam Jokat (Reuters)
The Chilean woman's story coincides with other occupants such as Canadian Brian Jokat, who detailed how one of his flight companions ended up hitting the top of the aircraft due to the sudden movement.
“There was no prior turbulence, we just sailed smoothly the entire way.
I had fallen asleep and fortunately I had my seat belt on and, suddenly, the plane fell (...) I thought I was dreaming.
I opened my eyes and he was on the roof of the plane face up, looking at me.
He was like
The Exorcist
,” he told New Zealand radio network
RNZ
.
The passengers who arrived in Santiago de Chile were part of the flight rescheduled by Latam to cover the journey from Auckland to Santiago.
The company offered accommodation and food for users who had to postpone their planning due to the incident.
Emergency crews treated about fifty passengers at the airport, according to health staff at St John's Hospital in New Zealand.
Of them, 13 people—10 passengers and three crew members—were sent to a hospital to check their health.
The most seriously affected were four Australian citizens;
two Brazilians;
two New Zealanders;
a Frenchman and a Chilean.
The airline has reported that the majority of the injured have been discharged and that only one passenger and one crew member suffer injuries that require additional care, but not life-threatening.
The incident is being investigated by the Transportation Accident Investigation Commission, which has already seized the cockpit voice recorder and data recorder from the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner.
The General Directorate of Civil Aeronautics (DGAC), the state agency in charge of supervising air travel in Chilean territory, has announced that two qualified representatives will travel to the oceanic country to participate in the investigations.
Latam has assured that it will collaborate with researchers to find out the causes of the unexpected shaking.
The plane that was involved in this event was manufactured by the American company Boeing, a company that is facing a delicate crisis due to the repeated accidents suffered by its devices.
A report published at the end of February by United States regulators has questioned the multinational's “safety culture.”
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