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Video of a person being pulled from an overhead luggage compartment has emerged after extreme turbulence on an Air Europa flight left dozens injured earlier this week.
The plane was departing from Madrid, Spain to Montevideo, Uruguay on Monday. It had to be diverted to an airport in Natal, Brazil due to “strong turbulence,” the airline said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
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One person, who said on X that her sister and brother-in-law were on the flight, shared a video of a passenger stuck in an overhead bin. His legs can be seen sticking out as others help him down.
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Other photos and videos that have been posted on social media show the damage to the plane, like busted overhead panels and a broken seat. Emergency services can also be seen gathering outside the plane.
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One woman told ABC News that her two-year-old son was launched from his seat during the turbulence. The young boy became stuck in the ceiling above the overhead bins, Dr. Cecilia Laguzzi said on the television show Good Morning America.
She said she was woken up by an object hitting her in the head. The plane then started “free falling” for up to seven seconds before returning to normal. In that short period of time, passengers and luggage were strewn on the floor of the plane. Laguzzi was on the flight with her husband and two children. She saw that her daughter was with her husband but couldn’t locate her son in the aftermath of the turbulence.
“We were trying to find him on the floor and started screaming his name until someone told me, ‘Are you looking for a baby?’ and I said, ‘Yes,’” Laguzzi said. “He said, ‘Well, it’s up there,’ and he pointed up, and the minute I look up he was there crying, looking at us.”
Laguzzi said her husband was able to get their son down. He was bruised but appeared to have no other injuries.
Passengers told Reuters about their experiences. One man, who identified himself as Steven, said “we thought we were going to die there.”
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“From one moment to the next, the plane destabilized and went into a dive,” another passenger, identified as Maximiliano, told the news agency. “The people who didn’t have seat belts went up in the air and hit the ceiling, and they got hurt – those who had seat belts on, not so much.”
In a statement on Tuesday, Air Europa said six people remained in hospital in Natal, as per Reuters. They also apologized for the incident.
“Air Europa deeply regrets what happened, as well as the inconvenience caused to its customers. The airline hopes for a speedy recovery of the affected passengers and is at the disposal of all its customers to assist them,” a statement said.
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