Eleven people have been left injured after a Lufthansa flight was hit by turbulence.
The Boeing 747-8 aircraft, which was heading to Frankfurt in Germany, had taken off from Buenos Aires, Argentina, when it later encountered brief, severe turbulence over the Atlantic due to air currents.
According to flight tracking data, the Boeing climbed to a cruise altitude of 33,000ft before encountering the turbulence.
The pilots tried to avoid the bad weather and climbed to 35,000 ft, however, five passengers who were not wearing their seat belt were injured during the incident, reports AirLive.net.
Eleven people are currently being treating for their injuries, on arrival, several ambulances were on the tarmac to treat the wounded.
“Unfortunately, according to current information, five passengers and six crew members suffered mostly minor injuries,” said a spokeswoman for the airline. No information could be given about the exact extent of the injuries “as the people are currently being treated.”
The Lufthansa spokeswoman added that the plane was flying in an inner-tropical convergence zone at the time of the incident. This is the equatorial low-pressure trough through which one has to fly in this area, said the spokeswoman. “This means that there are air currents in this low-pressure trough that can lead to turbulence.”
“The safety of the flight was never at risk,” she added. There were 329 passengers and 19 crew members on board.
Earlier this year an Air Europa Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner en route to Uruguay, suffered severe turbulence which caused chaos in the cabin, with one unfastened passenger flung into an overhead luggage bin.
During the frightening ordeal blood was smeared across the interior after 30 passengers sustained injuries. The plane encountered violent turbulence over the Atlantic, catapulting anyone and anything not secured into the air.
According to experts, turbulence can be caused by several factors including physical obstacles on the ground. The air can sometimes find itself with nowhere to go up but up, disrupting planes above.
Turbulence can also be caused by other passing aircraft which trigger the occurrence of different wind velocities as air coming off another plane decelerates.