Passengers ‘flung into air’ during rough turbulence

TERRIFIED passengers were left bloodied and bruised when severe turbulence rocked a flight out of Washington as it made an emergency landing.

This photo uploaded to Twitter by journalist Azad Essa shows a passenger being treated after a horror bout of turbulence on a Qatar Airways flight. Picture: Twitter/@azadessa

PASSENGERS have told of terror on board a Qatar Airways plane which made an emergency landing after the encountering extreme turbulence.

Flight QR708 from Washington to Doha landed at Lajes Field on the Portuguese Azores island of Terceira in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean yesterday, The Sun reported.

The airline claimed the flight was diverted over a passenger suffering a heart attack, admitting that the plane experienced “moderate to severe turbulence” during the landing.

And passengers have now told of the panic on board as they were thrown around the plane like ragdolls as it came in to land.

Anjali Sarker, a Bangladeshi passenger who was on the flight, revealed how she and others were injured when the Boeing 777-300 sharply plummeted.

Al Jazeera journalist Azad Essa, who was also on board the plane, tweeted: “When plane dropped, three-year-old Lebanese boy flew out his seat and landed across aisle into the lap of an Indian man who held him.

#QR708 not continuing to Doha after horrific turbulence forces plane to land on Potuguese island. pic.twitter.com/kESPKaz98a

— Azad Essa (@azadessa) December 4, 2016

“Some passengers bleeding after flung in the air, hitting the ceiling and landing in the aisles after plane suddenly lost altitude.”

There were even reports of one passenger suffering a broken leg, with claims the seatbelt sign was not illuminated because the turbulence hit so suddenly.

Several people were standing up to use the toilets when the chaos ensued, according to witnesses, while others who were sitting down without their seatbelts fastened were thrown from their seats.

Pictures of the aftermath of the dramatic incident showed cabin oxygen masks hanging down after being released during the turbulence.

Very angry scenes here. Passengers upset that @Qatarairways staff abandoned them. Here is what is left behind #QR708 pic.twitter.com/q9ZG26TgyE

— Azad Essa (@azadessa) December 4, 2016

Other snaps show medics treating stricken passengers after the plane had safely touched down.

The jet was about 115 nautical miles from the island when the emergency happened.

It was forced to circle for half an hour to dump fuel before making an emergency landing at the small military base.

“All the passengers were taken to a hotel in the evening and are due to depart on Monday morning,” said an air base spokesman, adding that several people on-board had “suffered light injuries during the turbulence”.

“There was a medical emergency as one of the passengers had a cardiac complaint during the turbulence,” a civil protection official in the Azores said. “He was hospitalised along with two other passengers.”

The Sun Online contacted Qatar Airways for comment on the incident but did not receive a reply by the time of writing.

This article originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced with permission.