A little over a month after deadly turbulence struck a Singapore Airlines flight in late May, an Air Europa jetliner, a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, traveling from Madrid to Montevideo, was forced to land urgently on Monday in Natal, Brazil, after “severe turbulence” which left several injured, the airline announced. The Spanish company indicated on the social network
There were “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 transported. “Most of them suffered minor injuries and a priori the life of none of them is in danger,” said this source. Uruguay’s Foreign Ministry explained that “passengers who needed medical attention were transferred to the Monsenhor Walfredo Gurgel Hospital in Natal.”
Deadly turbulence on Singapore Airlines flight
The plane landed at 2:42 a.m. local time (05:42 GMT), Zurich Airport Brasil, the company that administers Natal International Airport, said in a statement sent to AFP. Brazilian authorities did not immediately respond to AFP’s requests for information.
Video‘Heads went through the ceilings’: traumatised passenger on London-Singapore flight recounts
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. Scientists say 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 by more than 50%.
