50 Passengers Injured on LATAM Airlines Flight After 'Technical Event' Causes Boeing Dreamliner to Drop Mid-flight
LATAM Airline flight suffers 'technical event' mid-flight that injures 50.
Mar. 11 2024, Published 4:30 p.m. ET
Fifty passengers were injured when a "technical" issue caused a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner to drop mid-air, RadarOnline.com has learned.
The incident happened Monday on LATAM Airlines flight LA800 from Sydney, Australia, to Auckland, New Zealand.
The 'technical event' happened on a LATAM Airlines flight from Sydney to Auckland.
LATAM Airlines released a statement but did not elaborate on the issue, stating, "a technical event during the flight which caused a strong movement."
The flight was able to make its scheduled arrival at Auckland, where paramedics and at least 10 ambulances were waiting to assess injured passengers. New Zealand's St John's ambulance service said they "assessed and treated approximately" 50 passengers, and 12 were taken to a nearby hospital.
Officials said at least one passenger was in serious condition.
Passengers recalled people flying through the air and leaving blood marks on the plane's ceiling.
A passenger on the LATAM Airlines flight described the harrowing incident in an interview with BBC. Brian Jokat described the scary moment the plane "dropped unlike anything" he'd ever experienced.
Jokat said some passengers hit the plane's ceiling so hard that "some of the roof panels were broken" and others were sent flying down the aisle.
50 passengers were treated for injuries, with 12 being taken to a hospital and one in serious condition.
"There was blood coming from several people's heads and people were yelling and screaming and it was chaos," Jokat recalled.
Radio New Zealand reported several passengers were not wearing their seatbelts when the "technical event" struck. Another passenger said people were "flying around" the craft, leaving blood marks where they hit the ceiling.
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LATAM apologized for 'any inconvenience and discomfort' the incident 'may have caused.'
While it remains unclear what caused the "technical event," the Chilean airlines said it "deeply" regretted "any inconvenience and discomfort this situation may have caused its passengers."
Although the plane safely landed at its Auckland destination, the next scheduled flight, which was headed to Santiago, where LATAM is based, was canceled and rescheduled for Tuesday morning.
The incident is the latest in a string of events involving Boeing airplanes. Last week, there were three issues involving Boeing planes at different airports across the U.S.
A United Airlines flight from Houston to Fort Meyers had an engine fire mid-flight while traveling over the Gulf of Mexico, which caused the plane to turn back to Houston and land.
On Thursday, a United Airlines flight from San Francisco to Japan was forced to land in Los Angeles after losing a tire during takeoff.
Over the weekend, the Department of Justice announced an investigation into the Alaska Airlines incident on a Boeing 737 MAX plane, in which a door panel popped out mid-flight forcing an emergency landing.
The shocking incident raised safety concerns over Boeing planes and accused the aviation company of placing profits over passenger and crew safety.
Alaska Airlines said they are "fully cooperating" with the criminal probe.
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