Passengers were tossed from their seats and bounced off the roof of the plane during an incident on a flight from Sydney to Auckland, leaving several with head injuries according to one man onboard.
At least 50 people were injured on Monday after a flight suffered a “technical” issue in mid-air.
Officials from LATAM Airlines called it a “strong shake” but one passenger on the Chilean plane described how people were thrown from their seats and even bounced off the roof of flight LA800.
Passenger Brian Jokat told ABC News in Australia how he woke suddenly during the drop to find the passenger who had been seated next to him “on the roof of the plane”.
Mr Jokat, a Canadian citizen residing in the UK, added he thought he had been “dreaming” and photos taken by him show damage to the ceiling of the airplane where passengers had hit it.
He continued: “The plane, unannounced, just dropped. I mean it dropped unlike anything I’ve ever experienced on any kind of minor turbulence, and people were thrown out of their seats, hit the top of the roof of the plane, thrown down the aisles.
“Some of the roof panels were broken from people being thrown up and knocking through the plastic roof panels in the aisle ways. And there was blood coming from several people’s heads. If you were in your seat, you went straight up to the ceiling and bounced off the roof. I just happened to be one of the lucky ones who was strapped in for that incident”.
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LATAM Airlines said in a later statement there had been a “technical event during the flight which caused a strong movement” on the plane with 263 passengers and nine crew members.
They added they deeply regretted what took place and “any inconvenience and discomfort” it may have caused passengers.
Chilean accident investigation authority Direccion General de Aeronautica Civil (DGAC) has opened a probe into the flight, with it falling to them because the incident involving the plane took place in international airspace.
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New Zealand’s Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) said on Tuesday they were seizing the black boxes of the flight.
“TAIC is in the process of gathering evidence relevant to the inquiry, including seizing the cockpit voice and flight data recorders,” the New Zealand agency said, referring to the so-called “black boxes” that will provide more information on the flight’s trajectory and communications between pilots. The DGAC said in a statement it was working with TAIC on the investigation.
Following the incident, the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner landed safely at Auckland Airport where it had originally been due to continue onto Santiago, Chile.
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Paramedics met passengers and more than 10 emergency vehicles when they touched down with most people treated for mild injuries.
But 13 people were hospitalised, according to an ambulance spokesperson, with most being released soon after and only two needing additional attention.
