TWO people on a British Airways flight from Los Angeles to London suffered broken ankles after turbulence mid-flight.
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.
This unexpected jolt caused him to break his ankle.
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As for the cabin crew member, she was lowering her seat to strap herself in when the turbulence threw her off balance.
She too fell and broke her ankle.
Fortunately, fellow crew members were on hand to provide much-needed assistance.
By some miracle, two passengers onboard were also doctors.
Shortly after this, another passenger started feeling unwell and lost consciousness.
At this point the captain considered diverting the flight to either Canada or Iceland.
However, he deemed both these options unsuitable.
Instead, 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.”
This is not the first time a health emergency has happened on a British Airways flight.
Back in 2023, a man died after falling unconscious on a flight to the Caribbean.
Travelling with his mother, the alarm was raised when the 29-year-old Brit became “unresponsive”.
The plane was subsequently grounded at VC Bird International Airport in Antigua.
The passenger was then rushed to the local hospital where he was treated in the emergency room.
Unfortunately, he died later that evening after several attempts to revive him failed.
