Air turbulence: Made multiple announcements, says SpiceJet

NEW DELHI: Three of the 11 passengers who were injured in the severe

turbulence

aboard a

SpiceJet

flight on Sunday are still in hospital, including two in the

ICU

, after suffering brain and spinal injuries, the DGCA said. Strict action against the airline’s top flight safety honchos will follow soon, DGCA officials said.

Flight SG-945 had taken off on Sunday from Mumbai at 5.13pm for

Durgapur

with 199 people on board — 195 passengers, four cabin crew and two pilots. “During descent, the aircraft experienced severe turbulence. In this period the autopilot got disengaged for two minutes and the crew manually flew the aircraft,” the DGCA said in a statement.

“The oxygen panels of the B737 opened up and oxygen masks fell off. (A) Few seat hand rests and overhead decorative panels were damaged. One cabin overhead

bin

(hatrack) lock was found broken,” it added.

Due to the severe turbulence, 14 passengers and three cabin crew members got injured. SpiceJet later operated the aircraft to its nearest maintenance base, Kolkata, for repairs as a ferry flight. But flying this badly rattled plane is being viewed as a safety violation.

The regulator has formed a multi-disciplinary panel to probe the incident. SpiceJet says eight of the 11 hospitalised passengers have been discharged and that both the cockpit and cabin crew had made “multiple announcements asking flyers to remain seated with seat belts fastened”.

A SpiceJet spokesperson said: “SpiceJet is providing all possible help to the injured. The seat belt sign was on when the aircraft encountered turbulence… Due to severe turbulence, injuries were caused to a few passengers. Timely medical assistance was provided upon arrival.”

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