50 Injured As Latam Flight Suddenly Loses Altitude: “Blood Was On Ceiling”

Many passengers were not wearing seatbelts at the time of the sudden drop.

Fifty people were injured on board a Boeing 787-9 flight from Sydney to Auckland after the plane suddenly “dropped” mid-air, according to Forbes. The flight was operated by Chilean airline Latam and the plane experienced a technical issue, which caused “strong movement” on board the flight, the outlet further said. Some passengers and crew members were “thrown into the roof” on the plane as it suddenly lost altitude. Ten of the injured – seven passengers and three crew members – were hospitalised in a serious condition.

According to FlightAware, the affected LA800 flight landed successfully in Auckland at 4:26 pm local time.

“Flight LA800, operating the Sydney-Auckland route today, had a technical event during the flight which caused a strong movement,” Latam said in a statement posted by CNN.

However, the airline did not elaborate on what the technical event was.

Jacinto, a passenger on board the flight, told CNN affiliate RNZ that there was a “mid-air drop.”

“People flew through the cabin. People got pretty injured,” he added.

The man also said that many passengers were not wearing their seatbelts at the time of the sudden drop.

Another passenger named Valentina, said that the plane “just stopped,” and that “people were flying around.”

“Blood was on the ceiling, people flew and broke the ceiling of the plane,” she said.

Latam Airlines is Chile’s flagship carrier and stops regularly in Auckland en route to Santiago.

Boeing has been at the centre of the storm after malfunction on its planes, including the blowing out of a Boeing 737-9 door at 16,000 feet.