Dozens hospitalised as plane passengers sent flying from seats during severe turbulence
Dozens of passengers have been hospitalised after severe turbulence hit a domestic flight in the US.
At least 24 people were taken to hospital after the JetBlue flight from Boston, Massachusetts, to Sacramento, California, had to put down at Rapid City in South Dakota.
Reports from inside the Airbus A320 tell of passengers flying out of the seats as chaos gripped the cabin.
"People were floating," Rhonda Lynam told ABC News US.
"All of a sudden, it was as if you're on an elevator 50 stories high and it goes out of control. Then you hit the bottom."
Other passengers told the media they heard crying and screaming on board the flight.
Casey Corcoran, from Massachusetts, told WCVB it felt like the plane had crashed into a wall.
"It was almost like a bang, like we hit a wall and just dropped straight down,” he said.
Jet blue scary ride... pic.twitter.com/q9iFTgmKeJ
— Rhonda Renee (@Bistrobaby) August 12, 2016
"There was stuff in the aisles, you had people crying."
A statement from JetBlue said the incident forced the flight to divert to Rapid City at about 7.30pm local time.
It arrived safely.
"JetBlue care team members are being sent to assist injured customers, and a replacement aircraft is en route to Rapid City for customers continuing on to Sacramento," the statement said.
News break – August 12
