
A commercial flight over France was forced into an emergency diversion after passengers said the aircraft plunged dramatically following a loud bang midair, sparking panic in the cabin. The incident occurred aboard Air France flight AF 7562 from Paris to Ajaccio, according to passenger accounts. About 30 minutes after takeoff, travelers said they heard an explosion-like noise aboard the Airbus A320. Christelle, who was traveling with her daughter, told RTL she saw fire on the 14-year-old plane’s wing. “It was in flames,” she said, adding that the aircraft appeared to “plummet” as warning lights flashed throughout the cabin. “The buttons, everything was lighting up, everything was flashing. There was a man who grabbed his children because they thought we were going to crash,” Christelle said. Another passenger, Joelle, said she feared the worst. “I thought we were going to be smashed to pieces,” she said, according to Le Parisien. “I grabbed the phone to call my daughter, I said, ‘I’m going to die, I’m going to die.’” Flight tracking data cited by Le Parisien shows the plane descended from about 34,000 feet to roughly 5,000 feet in around 10 minutes. Passengers said the captain told them the aircraft’s left engine “stopped working mid-flight,” while Air France described the incident as an “engine failure.”




















