The flight had to be redirected to Brazil (Pictures: Reuters)
At least 30 passengers have been wounded after their Air Europa flight from Spain to Uruguay was hit by ‘severe turbulence’.
The Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner was forced to make an emergency landing in Natal airport, in northeastern Brazil at 2.30am on Monday.
Footage shared online shows people onboard the flight, which took off in Madrid, panicking and shouting.
One man appears to be climbing into the overhead bins above the seats, with his feet hanging out of the storage.
In photographs released on social media, many of the seats can be seen collapsed over, with overhead bins hanging out and badly damaged.
Dozens were reportedly taken to hospital following the incident on the flight, which was destined for Montevideo, Uruguay.
The flight was forced to make an emergency landing over 4,000km from its destination (Picture: Flightradar24)
A number of passengers suffered cervical fractures and hit their heads during the turbulence, reported News site G1.
At least two passengers were reportedly still in hospital on Monday afternoon.
The aircraft, Flight UX045, requested an emergency landing at 2.32am at Natal airport north-eastern Brazil, which is over 4,000km from Montevideo, according to its operator, Zurich Airport Brazil.
In a statement posted by airline on X, they said it was ‘the airport that could most quickly attend to passengers with medical needs’.
‘The plane has landed normally and the minor injuries that were reported are already being treated.
‘This afternoon a plane will take off from Madrid to pick up the passengers and continue the trip to Uruguay.’
The airline said the passengers will be moving to Recife before travelling to Monteo, after they have been treated in centres in Natal.
‘Natal was the airport that could serve passengers with medical needs the fastest,’ the airline said.
Earlier this year, a man died onboard a Singapore airlines flight that was hit by severe turbulence.
British grandfather Geoffrey Kitchen is believed to have suffered a heart attack when the Singapore Airlines flight plunged 7,000ft in just six minutes.
He had been on his way to a ‘trip of a lifetime’ in Singapore with his wife, which would have been their ‘last big trip’.
According to scientists, clear air turbulence, which cannot be seen on pilot’s radars, is getting worse because of the climate crisis.
AirEuropa have been contacted for comment.
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