Mid-air crisis: Lufthansa flight en route Frankfurt faces turbulence, 11 wounded

A Lufthansa flight from Buenos Aires to Frankfurt on Tuesday faced a mid-air crisis. The flight was hit with severe turbulence while it was flying over the Atlantic, Reuters quoted the airline as saying. In the incident, 11 people were injured.

"Unfortunately, five passengers and six crew members suffered mostly minor injuries," a Lufthansa spokesperson said, adding that “the safety of the flight was not in jeopardy at any time.”

After the aircraft landed safely at its planned destination at 10:53 am (0953 GMT) on November 12, all the injured received medical treatment immediately, the airline said. The flight that encountered the mid-air crisis was Boeing 747-8, which had 329 passengers and 19 crew members on board. However, the turbulence was short-lived, which happened in an intertropical convergence zone.

This development came on the same day Germany's Lufthansa Group announced that it would soon be closing the deal to purchase Italy's ITA Airways, the successor airline to bankrupt Alitalia. A package of remedies to the European Commission had been submitted, which was needed to secure EU antitrust approval to take a minority stake in Italy's ITA Airways, Lufthansa Group said on Tuesday.

In May this year, a passenger passed away due to a suspected heart attack, while 30 others were injured when a Singapore Airlines passenger plane witnessed mid-air turbulence in May this year. The aircraft was severely jolted by an air pocket over the Irrawaddy Basin in Myanmar.

According to the turbli database, the most turbulent flights of all connect Santiago in Chile to Santa Cruz in Bolivia. Furthermore, flights from Tokyo dominate the list of the roughest long-haul services. 

When does turbulence happen?

Strong turbulence occurs when air streams moving at different speeds converge. This is often found at the boundaries of jet streams, over mountains, and within certain storm clouds, according the Turbli said.

(With inputs from Reuters)