25 hospitalized after ‘significant’ turbulence on Delta flight

(MINNEAPOLIS) — Twenty-five people aboard a Delta Air Lines flight, headed from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, were hospitalized after the flight encountered “significant” turbulence Wednesday, the airline said.

Delta Air Lines Flight 56, with 275 passengers and 13 crew members on board, diverted to Minneapolis-St. Paul and landed safely shortly before 8 p.m. local time. The flight was operating on an Airbus A33-900.

The Minneapolis-St. Paul Fire Department and paramedics responded to the gate to provide initial medical attention, the Metropolitan Airports Commission said.

Leeann Nash, who was on the flight with her husband, told Minneapolis ABC affiliate KSTP that dinner service had just started on the flight when the turbulence came out of nowhere.

“There was actually no warning. It was a very abrupt, hard hit,” Nash said. “If you didn’t have your seat belt on — everyone that didn’t — they hit the ceiling, and then they fell to the ground, and the carts also hit the ceiling and fell to the ground, and people were injured, and it happened several times, so it was really scary.”

The airline said 25 of those on board were taken to the hospital “for evaluation and care.”

“There were glass bottles flying around. And you know, those carts are very heavy, so we were fortunate that we had seat belts on at the time, but we still saw cellphones flying around quite a bit,” Nash added. “But I will hand it to the flight attendants, they were incredibly calm, very well trained and very responsive.”

The Federal Aviation Administration said it is investigating.

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