Passengers who experienced brutal turbulence on a Qatar Airways flight from Doha to Dublin yesterday have told of the chaos on board as the plane suddenly plummeted hundreds of feet without warning.
Twelve people were hurt in the incident, eight of whom were taken to hospital upon landing in Dublin with shocked travellers describing how flight attendants were tossed into the air and hit the ceiling of the aircraft.
‘There was panic, the look of panic everywhere,’ Emma Rose Power said.
‘Some of the flight attendants had scratches to their face, ice to their face… one girl had a sling on her arm.’
‘It was just atrocious… never again,’ one traveller named Cathal told RTE, showing the Irish broadcaster how his shorts had somehow ripped apart as he was thrown around the cabin.
And another passenger named Eileen said she had never had a worse experience onboard a flight, explaining how her partner Tony was forced to hold her down to stop her from being launched out of her chair as she had been sleeping without a seatbelt.
‘It was so scary… I am not in a hurry to get back on a plane I can tell you,’ she added, holding back tears.
It comes just days after a 73-year-old British man died and more than 100 people were injured when a Singapore Airlines flight encountered major turbulence flying over Myanmar last week.
‘There was panic, the look of panic everywhere,’ Emma Rose Power said. ‘Some of the flight attendants had scratches to their face, ice to their face… one girl had a sling on her arm’
Eileen said she had never had a worse experience onboard a flight, explaining how her partner Tony was forced to hold her down to stop her being launched out of her chair as she had been sleeping without a seatbelt.
One traveller named Cathal showed the Irish broadcaster RTE how his shorts had somehow ripped apart as he was thrown around the cabin
Firefighters and a fire engine outside the a plane at Dublin airport which experienced turbulence over Turkey resulting in 12 people being injured
Ambulances gathering around the plane which landed safely in Dublin airport at around 1pm. Eight passengers were taken to hospital after being checked over by medical staff
Dublin Airport announced that six passengers and six crew members were injured in the turbulence, which it said occurred as flight QR17, a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner operated by Qatar Airways, passed over Iraq and into Turkish airspace.
Eight people sustained injuries that required hospitalisation and they were shuttled to medical centres in Dublin by emergency services who were waiting on the tarmac to receive the victims.
Several passengers told Irish broadcaster RTE how the cabin was suddenly plunged into chaos as it entered turbulence just as flight attendants were serving food.
Conor Buckley, who was travelling back from holiday in Thailand, said: ‘We felt the plane dip for about five seconds and next to us we saw the flight attendant just go up in the air and come straight back down.’
Paul Mocc explained how people had hit the roof during the chaos and that refreshments had ended up scattered all over the cabin, but commended the crew for continuing to work despite injuries.
‘You could see people hit the roof, food and things everywhere… they were serving food at the time so a lot of the crew were injured, but they did a really good job of continuing the service despite limping round with bandages and everything.’
Adam Dalton, a game developer, described the moment of turbulence as ‘like a rollercoaster drop’.
One man, who was on his way back from Perth, Australia, said that food and drink was scattered everywhere after the incident.
He told RTE: ‘I had to grab the seat in front, I had to put my seatbelt on.’
The flightpath taken by the Qatar Airway plane. IT experienced turbulence over Turkey and 12 people were injured but have been attended by emergency crews at Dublin Airport
Dublin airport has said it is continuing to provide medical assisstance to everyone on board
Adam Dalton, a game developer was on the flight and described it as ‘a bit of a shock’
Tom took to Twitter/X to describe his experience saying that the captain was slow to explain what was happening but the air stewards were very helpful
The flight experienced turbulence over Turkey a spokesperson for the operator of Dublin Airport said
In a statement, Dublin Airport said the Qatar Airways flight landed safely as scheduled shortly before 1pm on Sunday.
Emergency services, including ambulances, were seen on the ground around the plane after it landed in the Irish capital.
Passengers described food flying around and panic rippling through cabin but praised the air stewards on board.
Kevin Cullinane, Deputy Director of Communications at daa, the operator of Dublin Airport said: ‘The Dublin Airport team continues to provide full assistance on the ground to passengers and airline crew.’
In an updated statement at 3pm, Dublin Airport said all passengers were assessed for injury before disembarking the plane, and eight were taken to hospital.
‘Qatar Airways flight QR017 from Doha landed safely as scheduled at Dublin Airport shortly before 1300 on Sunday,’ they said.
‘Upon landing, the aircraft was met by emergency services, including airport police and our fire and rescue department, due to six passengers and six crew (12 total) on board reporting injuries after the aircraft experienced turbulence while airborne over Turkey.
‘All passengers were assessed for injury prior to disembarking the aircraft. Eight passengers were subsequently taken to hospital.’
A spokesperson for Qatar Airways said: ‘Qatar Airways can confirm that flight QR017 a Boeing B787-9 from Doha to Dublin has landed safely. A small number of passengers and crew sustained minor injuries in flight and are now receiving medical attention.
‘The matter is now subject to an internal investigation. The safety and security of our passengers and crew are our top priority.’
The incident follows an even more devastating bout of turbulence that befell a Singapore Airlines flight from Heathrow to Singapore last week that resulted in the death of a British man and saw some 80 people hospitalised.
Geoffrey Kitchen, a 73-year-old musical theatre director from Gloucestershire, died from a suspected heart attack, officials said.
At least one person died after a Singapore Airlines (SIA) SQ321 flight from London Heathrow to Singapore got into severe turbulence
The interior of Singapore Airline flight SG321 is pictured after the emergency landing
Geoffrey Kitchen, 73, ran the Thornbury Musical Theatre Group in Bristol
The 73-year-old died from a suspected heart attack, Thai officials said. His wife is believed to be in hospital
Pictured: Passengers are seen in the cabin after the incident today, with belongings strewn across the floor and oxygen masks dangling from above
More than 70 people were injured in the incident, with Mr Kitchen’s wife Linda placed in intensive care after she suffered serious spinal injuries.
The retired insurance worker and his wife were heading abroad on a six-week holiday of a lifetime to South East Asia, Indonesia and Australia when disaster struck around 11 hours into their flight from Heathrow.
The aircraft hit an air pocket and plummeted an astonishing 6,000ft in just three minutes, with the sudden drop unleashing mayhem onboard and forcing the plane to make an emergency landing at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport.
Terrified passengers have described how they had little to no warning to put their seatbelts on before the aircraft suddenly dropped while the crew were serving breakfast, with one passenger saying people were ‘launched into the ceiling’ as the plane fell through the sky.
Of the 211 passengers and 18 crew on board, Thai authorities said 71 people had been sent to hospital, with 20 placed in intensive care.
More than 100 people sustained injuries that required medical attention.
The ICU patients included six Britons, six Malaysians, three Australians, two Singaporeans and one person each from Hong Kong, New Zealand, and the Philippines, hospital authorities said.
Doctors performed emergency surgery on nine people in the hours after the aircraft landed on May 21, with five more operations conducted the following day.
One passenger named as Jerry, who was travelling to his son’s wedding aboard the ill-fated flight SQ321, told BBC: ‘Suddenly the plane plunged… there was no warning at all, and I ended up hitting my head on the ceiling, and my wife did.
‘Some poor people walking around ended up doing somersaults. It was absolutely terrible.’
A probe into the incident is now underway, with officers from Singapore’s Transport Safety Investigation Bureau deploying to Bangkok.
The US National Transportation Safety Board also sent an accredited representative and four technical advisors to support the investigation because the incident involved a Boeing plane.
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