© Paul Daly / THE CANADIAN PRESSSeveral passengers and crew were taken to hospital with unspecified injuries that occurred when their American Airlines flight heading to Milan from Miami encountered severe turbulence and emergency landed in St. John's.
American Airlines flight 206 carrying 192 passengers and 11 crew members experienced "severe turbulence" which forced the Boeing 767 to make an emergency landing at St. John's airport at 9:46pm on Sunday.
Paramedics and up to half a dozen ambulances, along with a fire truck, waited on the tarmac for the flight to land. Four passengers and three flight attendants were rushed to the Health Sciences Centre in St. John's for further evaluation, the airline said in a statement.
"We are taking care of our passengers and crew, and we are working on next steps to get them safely to their destination," said a spokesperson for American Airlines said. The airline claims that seat belt light was on when the flight "briefly" encountered turbulence.
The extent of the injuries has not been revealed, but witnesses reported seeing at least three people carried out on stretchers.
BREAKING: AA 206 from Miami to Milan has landed at St. John's #YYT following diversion. Number of injuries reported. pic.twitter.com/tXdYs7PXXM
— Mike Omelus (@MikeOGlobal) January 25, 2016
plus passengers that travel often have the bad habit not to follow the Captain's orders, seat in their seats
and wear their seatbelts when the respective light is on. The injuries were probably nothing more than scratches and the pilots' reaction was the proper one as I can see in the diagram. In such extreme situations it's standard procedure to land the aircraft to the nearest airport.