“The aircraft seemed to be moving normally but suddenly the turbulence began. I saw my sister thrown into the air from her seat. My mother was knocked on her head. My phone fell,” the woman told the outlet.
“People sitting behind me suffered injuries,” she said. “A male passenger had blood on his face. We thought we would die. It was really scary. I was shaking and crying.”
Footage from onboard shows distressed passengers in the aftermath. Another video showed a man wearing an arm sling while he was stuck on the plane waiting for aid.
An Air India spokesperson said the aircraft encountered a “brief in-flight turbulence-related event during cruise, resulting in a momentary change in altitude”.
The flight continued as planned and landed at Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi around two hours later.
“There have been no serious injuries as of now. A small number of passengers and crew members with minor injuries requiring medical assessment have been taken to a medical facility at the airport for precautionary examination and care by Air India’s airport team and medical personnel,” the spokesperson said.
However, India’s aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, has launched an investigation into the turbulence incident, with officials saying one cabin crew member had suffered a “severe injury”, the New York Post reported.
The incident comes only a year after the Air India tragedy last June, which resulted in the deaths of 260 people – 241 people on board and 19 people on the ground when the aircraft ploughed into a medical students’ hostel.
The only person to survive the crash was Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, a 39-year-old businessman from Leicester. Seated in 11A, he managed to crawl out before the plane exploded.
