‘Literally bodies on the ceiling of the plane’: Passengers describe extreme turbulence on Air Canada flight that put 30 people in hospital

Australian Band – Hurricane Fall via REUTERS

An Air Canada flight made an emergency landing on Thursday after extreme turbulence injured dozens of passengers.
Video footage shows the inside of the cabin after the turbulence, which injured 37 people and saw 30 people taken to hospital.
One passenger said that there were "literally bodies on the ceiling of the plane."
An Australian band, who captured the footage of the aftermath, praised Air Canada staff for their "professionalism."
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Passengers on an Air Canada plane described the chaos of extreme turbulence that threw them to the ceiling, caused the flight to make an emergency landing, and put 30 people in hospital.

The flight from Vancouver, Canada, to Sydney, Australia, was forced to make an emergency landing in Hawaii on Thursday after severe turbulence that jolted passengers out of their seats and around the plane.

37 people were injured, with nine of these left in a serious condition, The Associated Press reported on Friday.

30 passengers were taken to hospital in Hawaii as a result. Only one passenger was still in hospital and was expected to be released soon, an Air Canada spokesperson told Reuters.

One passenger, Stephanie Beam, told The Associated Press that "the plane just dropped."

Australian Band – Hurricane Fall via REUTERS

"When we hit turbulence, I woke up and looked over to make sure my kids were buckled. The next thing I knew there’s just literally bodies on the ceiling of the plane."

Australian band Hurricane Fall shared footage of the inside of the cabin after the turbulence that passengers said was so bad that people were thrown up to the ceiling.

The video shows oxygen masks descended from the overhead compartments, the cabin lights dimmed and replaced with purple light, and some passengers rising to talk to each other. "It’s crazy, man," one passenger says.

The band thanked Air Canada staff for their "professionalism and swift response" and said that it was "an eye opening incredibly frightening experience, but we’re grateful we are all safe and sound."

Michael Bailey, another passenger, told Hawaii News Now: "All of a sudden, the plane dropped. Must’ve dropped about 100 feet or something because we all went up to the ceiling like throughout the plane. It was pretty scary."

Passenger Erica Daly told the Hawaiian outlet that she was asleep before she was thrown out of her seat, hit the ceiling, and landed back on her arm rest.

Llyn Williams told the AP that "everybody who was not seated and belted in hit the roof, almost everybody in our cabin." His wife was taken to hospital, and he said that the cabin afterwards had "a lot of blood everywhere."

"It was really quite scary."

Wikimedia Commons

"I’ve got whiplash in my neck, I’ve got three stitches in my head where I’ve got a gouge. I’ve got a cut on my knee, a cut on my shoulder, and just pain down one side of my body," she said.

Emergency responders met passengers at the gate, and Hawaiian medical officials said that the injured included children and the elderly, the AP reported.

Air Canada was arranging accommodation and food for the passengers in Honolulu, according to the AP, as well as flights so they can continue their journey to Sydney.

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