NEW DELHI: A passenger fractured her right hand and another received special injuries when a Vistara Mumbai-Kolkata flight on Monday encountered severe turbulence during descent.
Both passengers were senior citizens.
The Boeing 737 with almost 120 people on board experienced turbulence when it was at 20,000-17,000 flight level.
While some passengers were injured, three of them had to be taken to hospital for check up.
“Anita Agarwal (61) who was on seat 39-D fractured her right hand.
She is being shifted to Belle Vue Hospital.
Timir Baran Das (77) who was on seat 26-A has received spinal ‘tenderness’ injury.
He is admitted to Charnock Hospital.
Sudip Roy (36), who was on seat 30-B, received minor cut on his forehead and was discharged after first aid,” said people in the know.
A Vistara spokesperson said: “Flight UK-775 operating Mumbai-Kolkata on Monday (June 7) encountered severe turbulence 15 minutes before landing.
According to preliminary reports, the turbulence caused injuries to a few passengers, who were provided first aid during flight and immediate medical assistance upon arrival in Kolkata.” “We are saddened by this unfortunate experience our customers had, and are closely monitoring the health status of those injured.
We are investigating the incident on priority, and will share a further update at the earliest,” the airline said.
Vistara’s Boeing 737-8 (VT-TGE, that was in Jet Airways fleet) operating as UK 775 encountered severe turbulence between flight level 20,000 feet and 17,000 feet.
Pre-monsoon weather conditions have begun affecting flights in the region.
On Sunday (June 6), IndiGo’s Bengaluru-Kolkata flight had to divert to Ranchi due to wind shear at the destination.
The Airbus A320 neo (VT-IZA) took off around 3 pm as 6E-997 and was approaching its destination when it experienced wind shear — a sudden change of wind velocity and/or direction.
The crew then decided to divert to Ranchi, where it landed safely.