Screams as ‘nasty’ turbulence hits
An Air New Zealand flight from Vietnam was forced to turn back to Ho Chi Minh City after four people were injured when the plane hit strong turbulence.
Three cabin crew members and one passenger received ‘‘minor injuries’’ in last Sunday’s incident, an Air New Zealand spokeswoman said.
Passengers arriving in Auckland on a rescheduled flight on Monday night said there was screaming and panic during the incident. ‘‘It was really sudden,’’ passenger Ben O’Brien said. ‘‘We were just flying along and there were a few bumps, then the captain came on the intercom and said ‘hey everyone, there is a little bit of turbulence’ then suddenly, wham. There were some screams and they started saying ‘is there a doctor on the flight’.
‘‘People started running up and down with med kits, and obviously the doctors got there and after a little bit of deliberation they said they had to turn back because the nearest city was Ho Chi Minh, so we turned around.
‘‘The did say it was serious [the nature of the injuries] and the feeling was if it was less serious we would have continued on to Darwin.’’
O’Brien said he was sitting near the front of the plane, but it was felt more towards the back of the plane.
‘‘The people who got injured were down the back. It was very, very sudden – that’s what made it so nasty.’’