Several passengers on an Aeroflot flight from Moscow to Bangkok were reportedly out of their seats and others not wearing their seatbelts when the Boeing 777 aircraft suddenly and unexpectedly hit severe turbulence in the form of what CNN describes as an “air hole.” The incident happened as the plane flew over Myanmar en route to Suvarnabhumi Airport, with 318 passengers on board, along with 14 flight crew members.
Passengers suffered fractures and bruising
According to a statement by the Russian Embassy in Bangkok, three Thais and 24 Russians were injured, with several suffering fractures and severe bruising.
The statement said that some of the injured passengers were not wearing seat belts when the plane suddenly hit the clear air turbulence.
Plane hit ‘clear air turbulence’ according to Aeroflot
As noted by NBC News, Aeroflot confirmed in a statement that Flight SU270 was approximately 40 minutes away from Bangkok when the plane hit “Clear Air Turbulence,” a phenomenon that reportedly cannot be picked up by weather radar. This gave flight crew and passengers no advance warning of what was to come. Some passengers took video footage and uploaded it to social media, including this video which shows the chaotic mess after the incident.
CNN spoke to one of the passengers, Rostik Rusev, who is Ukrainian but resides in Hackensack, New Jersey.
Rusev told them that the turbulence was so bad, some passengers on the flight were thrown out of their seats. He said the turbulence lasted for around ten seconds and he saw blood on the ceiling of the plane, babies who were injured, and passengers with broken noses. According to Rusev, who gave CNN a photo, the blood he saw on the plane was caused from passengers being thrown from their seats, flying up, and hitting the ceiling.
Saying the experience was “horrible,” Rusev said everything was fine on the flight and the turbulence just came out of nowhere. He compared it to driving a car, when a tire suddenly bursts.
Aeroflot turbulence leaves at least 27 passengers with fractures and bruises https://t.co/QpMgg43gJd pic.twitter.com/RqaSmOStBS
— CNN iReport (@cnnireport) May 1, 2017
Passengers on Aeroflot flight receiving treatment for injuries
According to the Thailand Airport Authority’s press release, 30 passengers were injured on the Aeroflot flight, with the 27 in question transferred to the hospital, while three others declined the transfer, preferring to seek their own medical treatment.
Passengers were found to have a variety of injuries, but mostly bruises and fractures. However, three passengers did require surgery and fifteen people are still in the hospital. Reportedly, none of the injuries are life-threatening.
Aeroflot said that it will cover all the medical costs of the passengers injured on the flight.
