Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner flying from Madrid to Montevideo with 325 passengers on board encountered turbulence over the Atlantic on Monday morning, resulting in an emergency landing in Natal, Brazil.
Initially, local medical services reported 30 people with minor injuries. On Tuesday, authorities in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, where Natal is located, reported that 40 people were taken to hospitalsfour of which are for intensive care units.
Brazil. Emergency landing of a plane. “We thought we were going to die there”
“There are passengers with fractures and injuries to their arms, faces and legs. (…) It was a pretty awful feeling. We thought we would die there” – Stevan, one of the plane's passengers, told Reuters.
A passenger from Venezuela named Norys also described her experiences, quoted by the Infobae portal.Those who were not wearing seat belts were thrown out from the armchairs, and some of them hit the ceiling. It took about three or five seconds.” – she said.
“It was a feeling of terrorthat you are falling forever and you are aware that you are falling at an unpredictable speed. And you felt that in the end you would die. Until we saw on the screen that the plane began to ascend,” recalled another passenger, an Argentine named Juan.
Panic on board. Passengers were thrown out of their seats.
Another passenger, a woman named Francesca, described the situation as “a nightmare we all had at some point – to sleep on the plane and wake up the moment it falls.” – In moments like these life flashes before your eyes – she added.
Line Air Europa said on Tuesday that six people from the flight were still in hospital in the city of Natal. The company expressed its deepest regret over the incident..