Turbulence forces Delta flight to land, sends 25 people to hospitals

Serious turbulence on a Delta Airlines flight headed to Europe sent 25 people to hospitals and forced the plane into an emergency landing in Minneapolis, the airline said.

Some aboard the flight from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam weren’t wearing seat belts and were thrown about the cabin, one passenger said.

“They hit the ceiling, and then they fell to the ground,” Leann Clement-Nash told ABC News. “And the carts also hit the ceiling and fell to the ground and people were injured. It happened several times, so it was really scary.”

The Airbus A330-900 was carrying 275 customers and a 13-member crew Wednesday evening. The airport fire department and paramedics met the flight and took the 25 people to hospitals for evaluation and treatment, the airline said.

Serious injuries from in-flight turbulence are rare, but scientists say they may be becoming more common as climate change alters the jet stream.

Several turbulence-impacted flights have been reported this year and raised awareness about aviation safety. In January, a midair collision over Washington, D.C., killed 67 people. A plane flipped over as it crashed in Toronto in March. Last weekend, passengers slid down an emergency slide to flee a smoking jet at Denver International Airport.

Delta said Thursday that seven of the crew members from the Wednesday flight were treated at hospitals and released. The airline also said some passengers were treated and released, but didn’t provide an exact number. It said customers could continue their trip on a special Thursday evening flight from the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport to Amsterdam.

Delta also said it is cooperating with a National Transportation Safety Board investigation.

In June, five people were taken to a North Carolina hospital for evaluation after an American Airlines flight from Miami hit turbulence on its way to Raleigh-Durham International Airport. The plane landed safely.

Earlier that month, severe storms in southern Germany forced a Ryanair flight to make an emergency landing after violent turbulence injured nine people on board, German police said. The flight was traveling from Berlin to Milan with 179 passengers and six crew members. Eight passengers and one crew member were hurt.

A United Airlines flight from San Francisco to Singapore experienced severe turbulence in March. At the time, the plane carrying 174 passengers and 14 crew members was flying over the Philippines. Five people were injured and the plane landed safely in Singapore.

Several flights were diverted to Waco, Texas, on March 3, because of turbulence. Five people were injured aboard a United Express flight from Springfield, Missouri, to Houston.

A man was killed when a Singapore Airlines flight hit severe turbulence in May 2024, the first person to die from turbulence on a major airline in several decades.