United Airlines Flight 880 was required to make an emergency land in Ireland at 6 a.m. Wednesday morning.
Unexpected turbulence on the Boeing 767-300 caused 12 people to need hospitalization, for what CNN reported as “primarily for soft tissue injuries, minor head injuries and lacerations,” the hospital said. “Unfortunately, of these 12 hospitalized people, 2 were flight attendants and 3 of which were children.
The flight carried a total of 220 people, with 207 passengers and 13 crew members. Luckily, a majority of the passengers were safely seated and sleeping during the occurrence. Those that were awake were not as fortunate, which resulted in a few passengers describing the flight as complete chaos before making the emergency land. Some reported to witness the horrifying sights and sounds of flight attendants being cut and bleeding as well as multiple crying babies.
The extreme turbulence caused a few dramatic drops in altitude, causing slight panic among the awake passengers as they were located halfway over the Atlantic Ocean. Several passengers described this flight as the worst they have experienced in years.
Thankfully the pilots were able to make the emergency land during this Houston-to-London flight at western Ireland’s Shannon Airport.