British passengers travelling on an easyJet flight from Corfu to London that was struck by brutal turbulence on Monday have described their terror as the plane suddenly plummeted, badly injuring two members of the crew.
The British carrier’s Airbus A320, flight EZY8120, departed from Corfu Airport in Greece at 12:44pm local time on Monday and was bound for London Gatwick with 181 passengers and crew on board.
But just 20 minutes into the flight, the easyJet aircraft was battered by turbulence while cruising at 485mph at an altitude of 28,000ft which violently smashed two members of the cabin crew who were preparing to serve food against the ceiling.
One received a badly sprained ankle and the other broke her leg, according to witnesses on board, forcing pilots to make an emergency landing at Rome’s Fiumicino airport.
Passenger Sharleigh told MailOnline: ‘I honestly thought we were going to die and have never experienced anything like it in my life.
‘The pilot said we may experience ”mild turbulence”… next thing the plane started ferociously shaking and suddenly just dropped. Everyone was screaming – my friend woke up from her sleep and we just held each other as we thought we were going to die,’ she said.
Another passenger Melanie described the experience as ‘being in free-fall on a rollercoaster’.
‘Literally out of nowhere the plane just plummeted and then must’ve pulled up again – I felt myself pull up and go back down again.
‘I just went into kind of a brace position and just screamed… The whole plane was screaming – my niece was sitting in front of me and she was bawling her eyes out. It was just completely shocking.
‘I’m not a nervous flyer, but I was extremely nervous all the way back after that, I was holding onto the seat in front of me for dear life.’
Flight EZY8120 is seen moments before boarding on the tarmac in Corfu under a moody sky
An easyJet Airbus A320 made an emergency landing at Rome’s Fiumicino airport after suffering significant turbulence
Flight tracking data showed how the plane diverted from its flight path and landed at an airport near Rome
Notification sent by Greece’s civil protection agency gave passengers warning of inclement weather
Passengers and the injured crewmembers were met with easyJet crew, airport staff and paramedics who provided immediate assistance upon their landing in Rome.
‘Both of the crew hit the ceiling of the galley,’ a flight attendant said.
‘One had a badly sprained ankle, one had a broken tibia.’
Another passenger named Jodi told MailOnline: ‘I was sat in the middle of the plane and it suddenly felt like we’d crashed into a wall… The plane then dropped again and shook from side to side. This is when people started shouting, screaming and crying and the cabin lights were turning on and off.
‘One of most distressing parts of it all was that the captain wasn’t announcing anything over the tannoy to reassure us, so all passengers were extremely scared that it was going to happen again.
‘Two staff down the end of the plane didn’t have their belts on and have suffered injuries. We could see one of the staff lying on the floor at the back of the plane.
‘The remaining staff blocked our view of the staff member on the floor whilst the paramedics tried to get her on a stretcher but we could hear her yelping and screaming in pain.’
Melanie added: ‘It appeared everyone was okay but then there was an announcement over the tannoy asking whether there were any medically trained people on board. It became apparent that the cabin crew had injured themselves… We heard them moaning, it was horrendous to hear.’
The injured flight attendants were immediately tended to by paramedics, while a replacement crew and aircraft were arranged to allow the passengers to continue to London Gatwick on Monday evening some seven hours later.
The aircraft involved in the incident remained parked in Rome the day after the event for safety checks.
Passengers praised easyJet cabin crew and airport staff whom they said handled the incident ‘exceptionally’.
‘EasyJet dealt with this very well. We diverted to Rome, paramedics came on board and took the two crew to hospital,’ one passenger said.
‘We were then taken to the terminal while they flew out another crew to bring us home. The new crew were very reassuring and the captain spoke to us in the cabin himself, and we were kept updated throughout the return flight which left at about 8.15 that evening.
‘The new pilot and crew were exceptional in keeping us informed and reassured.’
At least two people have been injured on an easyJet flight from Corfu to London
Pilots were forced to make an emergency landing at Rome’s Fiumicino airport
Southern Italy was wracked by inclement weather on Monday. A towering waterspout is seen in this image snapped off the coast of Salento
An easyJet spokeswoman confirmed the incident in a statement to MailOnline.
‘Flight EZY8120 from Corfu to London Gatwick on 19 August experienced turbulence which unfortunately resulted in two cabin crew members being injured.
‘As a result the Captain took the decision to divert to Rome where the crew members were met by medical services.
‘The safety and wellbeing of our customers and crew is easyJet’s highest priority and our pilots are trained to manage incidences of turbulence.
‘The flight landed normally in Rome where customers were supported in the terminal and a replacement crew and aircraft were arranged to continue the flight to London Gatwick.’
Meanwhile, Italy’s air safety agency, ANSV, declared it had launched an investigation into the incident to determine whether the turbulence was a sudden and unforeseeable event – known as ‘clear air turbulence’ – or if it was visible on the aircraft’s weather radar but underestimated by the pilots.
‘Given the type and severity of the injuries reported, we have initiated a safety investigation, classifying the event as an ”accident’,’ the ANSV stated in a press release.
But the agency added that investigators will also need to clarify why the pilots chose to divert to Rome instead of the closer airports of Bari or Brindisi.
The shocking incident came at a time when southern Italy was wracked by inclement weather and took place just hours after the Bayesian superyacht capsized and sank off Sicily after being smashed by a deadly waterspout.
The £30million vessel went down a matter of minutes after being struck by a freak waterspout while it was anchored off the coast of Porticello in Sicily just before 5am on Monday.
Southern Italy was blighted by high winds and storms on Monday
Search workers head out to the scene of the sinking of the Bayesian this morning as the operation to find those still missing enters its third day
Rescue workers and divers from the Italian fire brigade work overnight as a rescue operation continues for the missing people who were on board
A handout photo made available on 19 August 2024 by Perini Navi Press Office shows the ‘Bayesian’ sailing boat
While 15 people were rescued in the aftermath of the disaster, six people including billionaire Lynch, his 18-year-old daughter Hannah and a boss at Morgan Stanley bank remain missing.
The search for those unaccounted for entered its third day this morning, with rescue divers continuing their efforts to reach the cabins in the hopes of finding them.
An engineer has claimed the missing passengers could still be alive in air pockets 164ft below the surface, meaning divers – who can only remain underwater for ten minutes per dive due to the depth of where the wreck is – are competing in a race against time.
Their operation has been hampered by difficulty getting into the ship with divers forced to smash their way through a 3cm-thick porthole to gain access to one area and other parts of the wrecked vessel blocked by furniture.
One expert at the scene said an early focus of the official investigation into the tragedy, launched by prosecutors in nearby Termini Imerese, would be whether the yacht’s crew had closed access hatches into the vessel before the storm struck.
Investigators would look at whether appropriate measures had been taken, given the forecasts for bad weather overnight, and if any of the crew members are criminally liable.
