Severe turbulence leaves passengers injured
At least 27 people have been injured on an Aeroflot flight from Moscow to Bangkok when the plane hit severe turbulence shortly before landing after midnight.
Passenger phone footage shows people being slammed into the plane’s ceiling, injured passengers on the floor and oxygen masks hanging down.
Passenger Rostik Rusev shared a video on his Instagram, with the caption: “I was on a plane going from Moscow to Bangkok, out of nowhere we hit turbulence, that was so bad that it was throwing people around like crazy.
“Blood everywhere, people with broken bones, noses, open fractures, baby’s with head injuries, I can keep going and going. Thank God we are alive! I really hope @aeroflot @aeroflotrus will do right by everybody! I can honestly say I have never been so scared in my life before. #aeroflot #emergency. We are ok!”
Crew were not able to warn passengers of approaching danger as the plane flew though a pocket of “clean air” turbulence, meaning it was a clear sky with no cloud warning.
The Russian embassy in Thailand confirmed 24 of the injured were Russian nationals. Of the 24, 15 of them were taken to a Bangkok hospital for treatment. The other three injured were from Thailand.
“All the injured were sent to a local hospital with injuries of a different kind of severity, mainly fractures and bruises,” the embassy said.
“The reasons behind the injures was that some of the passengers had not had their seatbelts fastened.”
Three people needed surgery, two for leg fractures and one for broken ribs.