Severe turbulence on a Korea Air flight left 14 people injured and food launched throughout the aisles Sunday, Korea JoongAng Daily reported.
Korea Air Flight 197, carrying 281 passengers, was bound for Mongolia’s capital city, Ulaanbaatar, when it experienced severe turbulence roughly an hour after leaving Incheon Airport in South Korea, according to Korea JoongAng Daily.
The aircraft was flying at an altitude of 34,100 feet near China’s Tianjin Airport when the turbulence began, the outlet noted.
Four flight attendants and 10 passengers complained of neck and back pain, but were not seriously injured, Korea JoongAng Daily reported, citing Korea Air.
The turbulence reportedly lasted about 15 seconds, sending meal trays into the aisles and passengers out of their seats. (RELATED: Eight Hospitalized After 2nd Massive Turbulence Incident In Five Days).
The in-flight meal service was put on hold and passengers were told to fasten their seatbelts and stay in their seats, the outlet reported.
A Korean Airlines Airbus A330-300, flight from Seoul to Ulaanbaator with 281 people on board, encountered severe turbulence over China near Tianjin at FL341, causing some passengers to hit the cabin ceiling and floor. 10 pax and 4 cabin crew sustained injuries.#leaked #SAFA #mmrv pic.twitter.com/0JQJDpExZN
— Aviation_Mechanic👷♂️🌏✈️ (@Kwesi_Andrews1) August 6, 2024
“People who weren’t wearing seat belts shot up into the air,” travel blogger Kim Hae-in wrote, the outlet reported. “One passenger bounced really high, hit their head on the ceiling and dropped into the aisle.”
“Just as I was about to finish eating the in-flight meal, turbulence started and the plane went into a steep descent,” an X (formerly Twitter) user appeared to write in a post translated into English. “People were screaming, all the plates were overturned, and it was chaos.”
몽골여행 5박 6일 시작
ㅎ 기내식 다먹을즈음 난기류 시작해서 비행기가 급하강해가지고 사람들 비명지르고 식판 다엎어지고 난리남ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ 1초간 아 죽나..? 싶었네 요즘 난기류가 심하다고 들었는데 진짜네요 pic.twitter.com/KtHNKefMYv— 티슷/커미션 메인트윗 (@pinkteest) August 4, 2024
Passengers were reportedly supplied with anti-inflammatory painkillers while on the flight. The patients were examined by a medical team waiting for them in Ulaanbaatar once they landed, the outlet reported.
The airline in August 2024 ceased serving instant noodles to economy class passengers on long-haul flights to prevent burns caused by “the increasing trend of turbulence,” according to the New York Post.
