Twenty-five people aboard a Delta Air Lines flight were taken to hospital on Wednesday after the aircraft encountered severe turbulence, forcing it to make an emergency landing at Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport, the airline confirmed.
Flight DL56, an Airbus A330-900 carrying 275 passengers and 13 crew members, had taken off from Salt Lake City, Utah, and was en route to Amsterdam when it was diverted to Minneapolis. The plane landed safely around 7.25 pm local time, just over two hours into its scheduled nine-hour journey.
A spokesperson for the airport told CNN that the flight was diverted “due to reported in-flight turbulence that caused injuries on board”. Upon landing, the Minneapolis-Saint Paul Airport Fire Department and paramedics met the aircraft at the gate and provided initial medical attention to those in need. Delta said 25 of those on board were then transported to area hospitals “for evaluation and care”.
“We are grateful for the support of all emergency responders involved,” Delta said in a statement. “Safety is our No. 1 value at Delta, and our Delta Care Team is working directly with customers to support their immediate needs.”
In the United States, there have been 207 cases of severe injuries from turbulence-defined as injuries requiring hospitalisation for more than 48 hours-since 2009, according to figures from the National Transportation Safety Board. Estimates suggest that approximately 5,000 incidents of severe-or-greater turbulence occur annually, out of more than 35 million global flights.
Severe turbulence is classified as a disturbance that can exert more than 1.5g-force on the body, enough to lift an unbuckled passenger out of their seat.
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