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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

Six people have been injured after a Turkish Airlines flight from Turkey to Taiwan encountered severe mid-flight turbulence due to “adverse weather conditions”.

Flight TK24 was carrying 214 passengers and 17 crew members from Istanbul’s Ataturk International Airport to Taipei Taoyuan International Airport when it encountered turbulence two hours away from landing on Thursday (5 September).

Of those onboard the Turkish Airlines Boeing 777-300, four passengers and two members of cabin crew suffered injuries during the “unexpected” rough period of flying.

Video footage from passengers shows chaos in the cabin after loose hand luggage, food and debris were flung across the Boeing plane.

Read more: What is turbulence and can it cause your plane to crash?

The aircraft was met by emergency services at the Taipei aviation hub upon landing, with two of the injured passengers transferred to a local hospital for treatment.

“Our plane with tail code TC-JJE, operating our flight TK24 from Istanbul (IST) to Taipei (TPE), was exposed to adverse weather conditions (turbulence) approximately 2 hours from Taipei Airport,” said press counsellor for Turkish Airlines, Yahya Ustu, said in a statement on X/Twitter.

“Our plane, carrying 214 passengers and 17 flight crew members, had four passengers and two cabin crew members slightly injured due to turbulence. Our plane landed at Taipei Airport without any problems, the medical teams met the plane and according to the initial intervention, no serious findings were detected.

“In addition, two of our passengers were transferred to the hospital as requested. Turkish Airlines, which always prioritises flight and passenger safety, is deeply saddened by the incident. The health status of our passengers and crew is being closely monitored.”

It’s not the first time this year that turbulence has injured passengers while flying.

In May, a British man was killed, and seven people were left in critical condition after being injured on a flight from London to Singapore, which was hit by severe turbulence.

Passengers aboard the Singapore Airlines flight were dramatically flung into the air after the plane was forced to drop 6,000ft within minutes due to weather conditions. The pilots were then forced to carry out an emergency landing in Thailand shortly before 4pm local time.

Thai authorities confirmed a 73-year-old man had died of a suspected heart attack, with his wife also hospitalised.

For more travel news and advice, listen to Simon Calder’s podcast

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