Air Europa mid-flight terror: dozens injured following incident on Boeing 787-9

This Monday, July 1, 2024, a Boeing 787-9 had to land urgently in Brazil. The incident left several injured, said Air Europa.

An Air Europa Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner en route from Madrid to Montevideo was forced to make an emergency landing in Natal, Brazil, on Monday after “severe turbulence” which left several injured, the airline announced.

Several dozen injured

The Spanish company indicated on the social network X that the plane had "landed normally" in Natal (northeast) and that "the injured were taken care of". There are "between 25 and 30 injured", a Uruguayan diplomatic source told AFP, specifying that this toll remained provisional and that some had already left the hospital where they had been taken.

Nuestro vuelo UX045 con destino a Montevideo se ha desviado al aeropuerto de Natal (Brasil) a causa de fuertes turbulencias. El avión ha aterrizado con normalidad y los heridos de diversa consideración que se registraron ya están siendo atendidos.

— Air Europa (@AirEuropa) July 1, 2024

"Most suffered minor injuries and a priori the lives of none of them are in danger&quot ;, said this source. Uruguay’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs explained that "passengers who needed medical attention were transferred to the Monsenhor Walfredo Gurgel Hospital in Natal" .

The plane landed at 02:42 local time (05:42 GMT), said in a statement sent to AFP Zurich Airport Brasil, the company that administers the airport Natal International. Brazilian authorities did not immediately respond to AFP's requests for information.

In May, a 73-year-old British man died and several other passengers and crew were seriously injured during severe turbulence during a Singapore Airlines flight aboard a Boeing 777. According to scientists, climate change is causing more turbulence in flights.

According to a study carried out in 2023, the annual duration of turbulence increased by 17% between 1979 and 2020 and severe, rarer turbulence increased by more than 50%.