MIDAIR NIGHTMARE

8 Hospitalized as Severe Turbulence Strikes New York Flight

Ambulances were already waiting on the tarmac when the plane made an emergency landing around 3.30 a.m. on Friday.

#5

Emergency workers transported at least eight passengers to the hospital in the small hours of Friday morning after their plane encountered serious turbulence. The incident occurred sometime after the Avianca aircraft left Medellin, Colombia, at around 10.30 p.m. on Thursday for John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. The pilot was forced to divert and descend for an emergency landing in Miami about three hours after takeoff. “When we arrived, when we landed, we saw that very close to where we were going to disembark, there were more than five or six ambulances,” passenger Maria Paula Jiminez said. “Seven of them with their lights on as if they were waiting for something. When we arrived, well, you know, it wasn’t normal.” Footage from inside the plane after it arrived in Miami appears to show several passengers holding ice packs against their heads. Authorities have not disclosed the extent of injuries suffered by those taken to hospital.