Photos: Nightmare Buenos Aires-Bound Flight Leaves Passenger With a Broken Nose
© AP Photo / Natacha Pisarenko
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The plane was about seven hours into its 12-hour journey when it ran into severe turbulence. The Airbus A330, a twin jet-engined plane, was carrying 271 passengers and 13 crew members about 38,000 feet (11,500 meters) over the Atlantic Ocean when it began to violently shake.
On Tuesday, at least 12 people were injured—with three people having to be hospitalized—after a flight leaving Madrid hit extreme turbulence. The flight was bound for Buenos Aires’ Ezeiza airport and left at around 8:00 p.m local time.
But seven hours into the journey, the Aerolíneas Argentinas AR1133 flight came into contact with turbulence so extreme that Esperanza Borrás, a passenger on the flight who had unbuckled her seatbelt for a brief moment, was left with a broken nasal septum after she hit her head on the ceiling.
Cierren Aerolíneas Argentinas, cueva de ladris y ñoquis, YA! pic.twitter.com/VARAYFpbkX
— Winston (@Winston_Dunhill) October 19, 2022
“The plane started to move a lot and I said to my colleagues, ‘how much turbulence, buckle up’. As I fumbled for my seat belt, the plane encountered severe turbulence,” said Adrian Torres, another passenger on the flight, told the Spanish newspaper El País. But Torres said the plane suddenly dropped, leaving him with a small bruise.
“We had flown about seven hours and almost all of us slept, because at that time it was almost three in Spain,” Torres added.
Other passengers were left with cuts and bruises and at least three passengers had to be hospitalized while nine other people were treated for “light injuries.”
Aerolíneas Argentinas has claimed that the seatbelt signs had been turned on before their flight ran into turbulence. The airline company is also saying they warned passengers with an announcement, though traveler on Twitter are contradicting the airline’s version of the story.
"According to the information given by the crew, the safety belt lights were on and the corresponding announcement was made," Aerolíneas Argentina said in a statement. "The passengers that were more injured, and those that had to be transferred, were not wearing the safety belt at the moment of the turbulence."
#Ongoing Aerolineas Argentinas Flight 1133, an A330, was involved in an incident off the coast of Brazil. Jet met severe turbulence. Of 271 aboard, 12 passengers were injured. Jet later landed safely in Buenos Aires. Source - AVHerald https://t.co/oSLt5vwdpC pic.twitter.com/z4bOw8E6yW
— Air Safety #OTD by Francisco Cunha (@OnDisasters) October 19, 2022
"Well there was some turbulence during which we were not told to put on the security belt and everyone just went flying," wrote one passenger on Twitter, who said the flight was a ‘nightmare.’ Even the stewardesses were on the ground."
A statement released by the airline later detailed that the aircraft itself did not show "significant" damages to its structure.
