About 50 people were injured Monday on a LATAM Airlines flight from Sydney to Auckland, New Zealand, prompting a large response from emergency services.
Chilean airline LATAM said in a statement that there was “technical event” on board Flight 800 that “caused a strong movement.” The airline said it “deeply regrets any inconvenience and discomfort this situation may have caused its passengers.”
The flight — a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner — was stopping in Auckland before heading to its final destination in Santiago, Chile, according to local media reports and the tracking website FlightAware. LATAM said the plane landed at Auckland International Airport at 4:26 p.m. local time “as scheduled.”
A spokesperson for Boeing said, “We are working to gather more information about the flight and will provide any support needed by our customer.”
In a statement, the Hato Hone St. John ambulance service said its crews responded to an incident at Auckland International Airport involving an inbound aircraft Monday afternoon local time. After seven ambulances and other vehicles and teams arrived at the scene, they “assessed and treated approximately 50 patients,” including one in serious condition and the remainder in moderate to minor condition, it said.
A passenger on board told Radio New Zealand that the flight was going smoothly until about two-thirds of the way into the roughly three-hour journey to New Zealand, when the plane “just dropped.”
The passenger, Brian Jokat, told the outlet that several passengers were thrown up to the ceiling of the plane, with some breaking parts of the cabin on impact and others injuring themselves when they hit the floor.
“Then people just started screaming. I felt the plane take a nosedive — it felt like it was at the top of a roller coaster, and then it flattened out again,” Jokat said. The entire incident lasted only “split seconds,” he said.
Another passenger, Priscilla Waller-Subritzky, told the New Zealand Herald that the plane lost altitude and that “a number of passengers and crew were thrown into the roof of the plane.” She said “the crew were injured so couldn’t help” the passengers who were hurt.
LATAM in its statement said it scheduled a new flight for Tuesday, departing from Auckland at 8 p.m. local time, bound for Santiago. The airline said it was “providing affected passengers with food and accommodation services.”
Twelve patients were taken to a hospital to be treated for injuries, Hato Hone St. John said. Latam, in its statement, said seven passengers and three crew members were sent to a hospital for “medical checks, with no serious injuries reported.”