40 people injured during a Boeing flight between Spain and Montevideo

Dozens of people were injured on Monday when an Air Europa flight from Madrid to Montevideo suffered heavy turbulence, prompting an emergency landing in Brazil.

The plane, a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner with 325 passengers on board, landed at 2.32 a.m. (local time) at Natal International Airport in northeastern Brazil, where about 15 ambulances were prepared for its arrival, officials said.

Forty people were taken to health centersin Natal mostly for "slight bruises and minor trauma," the health secretariat of the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Norte told AFP.

Eleven remained hospitalized this Monday afternoon, five in private clinics and six at the Monsenhor Walfredo Gurgel hospital.

Among the injured are nationals from Spain, Argentina, Uruguay, Israel, Bolivia and Germany.

Air Europa reported earlier that it decided to divert flight UX045 to Natal "due to an episode of heavy turbulence," which left "seven injured of varying degrees, as well as an as yet undetermined number due to minor contusions."

The aircraft "landed normally" but "will remain under review to determine the extent of the damage," it said in a statement.

It also added that it would be sending "in the next few hours" a plane to pick up the affected passengers. This flight has already taken off, Air Europa reported via its profile on social network X, and is scheduled to land at 7.20 a.m. (local time) in Montevideo.

"Absolute terror"

Air Europa later announced that the passengers had been transferred to Recife, about 290 kilometers south of Natal, "where they will stay and then travel to Montevideo."

Claudio Fernandez Arbes, a 43-year-old Uruguayan psychologist told AFP of the incident.

"It wasn't turbulence, it was a nosedive. It's not that the plane shook: it fell," he recounted.

When the aircraft stabilized, "it felt like a traffic crash." Many were hit by people or things flying, a two-year-old was caught in the baggage compartments, other passengers were suspended and hurt when they fell.

"It was crazy," Fernandez Arbes said in describing the scene, with passengers bloodied and screaming.

"It was a few seconds of absolute terror and then a few very long minutes of uncertainty and despair," he added.

Fernandez Arbes related that one passenger suffered a perinfarction and a woman broke her hip. Among the passengers were doctors who assisted several injured people, he explained.

"The worst part was the martyrdom of those 40-50 minutes to Natal when we didn't know what was going to happen. At one point they said we were going to continue to Montevideo and people started protesting," he recounted.

Mariela Jodal, who claimed to be among the passengers, wrote on X that several people were injured by "very strong turbulence." But she was spared the worst part of the ordeal "thanks" to having her seat belt fastened, she claimed.

Jodal then posted again on X to claim that "the crew left"and the passengers were left "stranded at the Natal airport."

Fernandez Arbes also deplored the lack of communication from the airline: "Nobody came to tell us anything, we didn't know anything."

Other plane incidents in recent months

In May, a 73-year-old British man died and several other passengers and crew were injured when a Boeing 777 operated by Singapore Airlines experienced severe turbulence on a flight from London.

A week later, 12 people were injured during turbulence on a Qatar Airways Boeing 787-9 flight from Doha to Ireland.

To this must be added the number of fatal accidents involving aircraft from US manufacturer Boeing in 2018 and 2019 as well as the detachment of part of the fuselage of an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX aircraft in January, which unleashed an entire investigation into this airline which has since faced an unprecedented crisis.