British Airways: Two passengers break their ankles during horror turbulence on Heathrow-bound plane
Two people on a British Airways flight from Los Angeles to London suffered broken ankles after horror turbulence.
It is thought a passenger and a crew member both sustained serious injuries about 20 minutes after the seat belt signs were switched off. According to the captain of the flight, the turbulence which caused the incident lasted between 10 and 15 seconds and was “perceived as light to moderate”.
It shook the aircraft while it was above the Atlantic Ocean, south of Greenland. The injured passenger said the aircraft made a “sudden movement upward and sideways” while he was returning from the toilet, The Sun reports.
This unexpected jolt caused him to break his ankle. The cabin crew member was lowering her seat to strap herself in when the turbulence threw her off balance.
She too fell and broke her ankle. Fellow crew members were on hand to provide much-needed assistance, and two passengers onboard were also doctors.
Shortly after this, another passenger started feeling unwell and lost consciousness. The flight pushed on to Heathrow where ambulances were waiting for the Airbus A380 on the tarmac, ready to take the casualties to hospital.
A British Airways spokesperson said: “Safety is always our priority and our highly-skilled pilots and cabin crew are trained to manage rare events such as this. The aircraft landed safely at London Heathrow, where our teams looked after both our colleague and the customer.”