Flight Suddenly Losses Altitude: At least 50 passengers were injured on board a Boeing 787-9 flight after the plane suddenly ‘dropped’ mid-air, Forbes reported. The flight was bound from Sydney to Auckland and was operated by Chilean airline Latam. The sudden drop occurred due to a technical issue, which caused “strong movement” on board the flight.
When the flight ‘dropped mid-air’ some of the flyers were thrown into the roof. Out of 50, 10 – seven passengers and three crew members – were hospitalised as they sustained serious injuries.
As per FlightAware, the flight LA800 landed safely in Auckland at around 4:26 pm local time.
“Flight LA800, operating the Sydney-Auckland route today, had a technical event during the flight which caused a strong movement,” Latam Airlines statement said, reported CNN. However, the airline did not explain the technical problem the flight faced.
One of the passengers, told RNZ that there was a “mid-air drop,” adding that, “People flew through the cabin. People got pretty injured.”
The passenger also stated that several other flyers were not wearing their seatbelts at the time of the incident and that is why they hit the roof of the plane.
Another flyer stated that the plane “just stopped,” and that “people were flying around.” “Blood was on the ceiling, people flew and broke the ceiling of the plane,” she said.
It is worth noting that Latam Airlines is Chile’s flagship carrier and make a stop regularly in Auckland en route to Santiago.
Boeing has been in news after malfunctions on its planes, including the blowing out of a Boeing 737-9 door at 16,000 feet.