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A Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner flying from Spain to Uruguay with 325 passengers on board experienced severe turbulence. The pilot had to make an emergency landing in Brazil. About forty passengers were injured.
They will remember their flight from Europe to South America for a long time. On Sunday, 325 passengers took off from Madrid to Montevideo in Uruguay on board a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner from Air Europa. As it approached the South American continent, the plane was caught in severe turbulence.
“There was a very slight turbulence, we barely felt it, and from one moment to the next the plane suddenly fell and we were all lifted. Those of us who were not strapped in flew away and some remained stuck to the ceiling. It lasted 3 to 5 seconds,” said a passenger, quoted by the Brazilian newspaper. The globe“The worst part was the torture of those 40 to 50 minutes to Natal, when we didn’t know what was going to happen,” says one of the passengers, a Uruguayan psychologist.
#ACCIDENT | At least 30 passengers were injured when Air Europa flight UX045, a Boeing 787-9 traveling from Madrid to Montevideo, encountered severe turbulence early this morning.
Following the incident, the flight was diverted to Natal, Brazil, where the injured… pic.twitter.com/ksXFTxB49d— Guayaquil Aviation (@AviacionGYE) https://twitter.com/AviacionGYE/status/1807795442870100061?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Air Europa Boeing 787-9 (EC-MTI, built 2018) safely diverted to Natal-Intl AP(SBSG), Brazil after flight #UX45 from Madrid to Montevideo, Uruguay encountered severe turbulence during cruise flight at 36000 ft. leaving at least 30 persons injured and aircraft interior damaged.… pic.twitter.com/d51i9HFRJu
— JACDEC (@JacdecNew) https://twitter.com/JacdecNew/status/1807796134909223362?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Several people injured on Air Europa flight UX045 from Madrid to Montevideo. It had to make an emergency landing in Natal, Brazil. Firefighters and medical emergency services are assisting. #aireuropa pic.twitter.com/MAQMziXIdV
— Pichi Pastosa (@pichipastoso) https://twitter.com/pichipastoso/status/1807697044888224171?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Air Europa absent! After the crash of flight UX 045, the crew left, leaving us stranded at Natal airport.
They don’t give us information about how we will return to Montevideo @AirEuropa pic.twitter.com/WHkNvfiVis— Mariela Jodal (@MarielaJodal) https://twitter.com/MarielaJodal/status/1807782570072953075?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Scratches and minor trauma
For safety reasons, while the plane was being lifted from all sides, the pilot decided to divert the plane to Natal in Brazil in the northeast of Brazil, where it landed on Monday morning at 7:42 a.m. Paris time.
40 passengers were evacuated to hospitals. They suffered “scratches and minor trauma,” said the Health Secretariat of the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Norte. The Uruguayan psychologist said that one passenger suffered a heart attack and that a woman broke a hip. As of late Monday, eleven passengers were still in hospital. There were no French nationals among them.
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Turbulence in Singapore Airlines Boeing 777: “screams of agony”, “cut to the head”, “crazy flight”…1 dead and 83 injured, survivors testify
Climate change to blame?
In May, a 73-year-old British man died and several passengers and crew were seriously injured in severe turbulence on a Singapore Airlines flight aboard a Boeing 777.
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Singapore Airlines Boeing fatal flight: Why air turbulence will become more frequent
Climate change is causing more turbulence in flights, scientists say. The annual duration of turbulence increased by 17% between 1979 and 2020, and the rarer severe turbulence increased by more than 50%, according to a 2023 study.
