A Delta Airlines flight encountered “significant turbulence” on Wednesday that forced the aircraft to make an emergency landing and sent 25 people to the hospital, the airline said in a statement.
The flight, DL56, departed Salt Lake City and was headed for Amsterdam when it was diverted to Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport for the emergency landing.
The plane, an Airbus A330-900, “landed safely” after nearly 2.5 hours in the air, according to the airline statement and to online FlightStats.
Medical personnel met the fight upon arrival “to evaluate customers and crew.” The conditions of 25 people were deemed dire enough to require transport to the hospital “for evaluation and care,” according to the statement.
Passengers described alarming in-flight experiences.
One passenger told ABC News that anyone whose seatbelts were not fastened hit their heads repeatedly on the plane’s ceiling.
“If you didn’t have your seatbelt on, everyone that didn’t, they hit the ceiling and then they fell to the ground,” the passenger said. “And the carts also hit the ceiling and fell to the ground, and people were injured.”
“It happened several times, so it was really scary,” she added.
