Avianca flight encounters turbulence! Emergency diversion to Miami sends at least 8 people to hospital

An Avianca airliner flying to New York encountered severe turbulence and made an emergency diversion to Miami, Florida. At least eight people were injured and sent to hospital. Avianca aircraft diagram. (Bloomberg)

An Avianca (also known as Continental Airlines, Avianca Airlines) Airbus A320 passenger plane encountered severe turbulence while flying from Medellin, Colombia's second largest city, to New York, the United States, on the 9th. The flight made an emergency diversion to Miami, Florida. At least eight people on board were injured and sent to hospital.

According to the Associated Press, Avianca initially stated that a total of three crew members and six passengers were affected by the turbulence and needed to be sent to the hospital. However, the Miami-Dade County Fire Department later stated that the passenger plane landed at around 3 a.m. on the 9th. One person was seriously injured and was rushed to a trauma center for treatment, while seven others were transported to nearby hospitals by ambulance.

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Serious injuries caused by turbulence on a plane used to be quite rare, but scientists have revealed that as climate change changes the direction of airflow, this situation may become more and more common. The number of turbulence reports received by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) surged by more than 25% last year.

Last summer, when the seat belt indicator light was turned off on a Delta Airlines flight, some passengers got up to move around, and the flight attendants also began to hand out drinks to the passengers. Unexpectedly, it encountered turbulence caused by a thunderstorm over Wyoming, causing many people to be repeatedly knocked into the ceiling and floor of the cabin, eventually sending 24 people to hospital.