Seven passengers were hospitalized after a Lufthansa Airlines flight from Austin to Frankfurt was hit by lightning and experienced turbulence while flying over Tennessee.
The plane had plummeted 1,000 feet while the no-seatbelt sign was turned off, causing terrified passengers to scream in terror. The flight made an emergency landing at Washington-Dulles International Airport, just three hours into the 10.5-hour flight.
One passenger claimed that people who didn’t have seatbelts fastened got hurt mostly because the lightning strike was a surprise. Seven passengers were taken to the hospital with unknown injuries.
A passenger who spoke anonymously with the Washington Post said food ‘went flying into the air, hitting and even damaging the ceiling of the plane.’
The passenger sitting in the row in front of them had to be wheeled off the plane in a wheelchair after being ‘badly hurt’ and was heavily bleeding.
Another person whose sister and brother-in-law were on the flight said it was ‘exceptionally scary, [with] lots of broken glass and screaming and multiple injuries,’ according to The Sun.
The airline has offered passengers a link to request a refund, and is providing hotel accommodations for the passengers. One angry passenger took to Twitter to request immediate help and compensation for the catastrophic forced landing incident.
The FAA is investigating the incident.
In another incident earlier in the week, a woman, Tiffany Michelle Miles, 36, of DC, had her criminal charges dropped after she allegedly tried to breach the cockpit when the crew did not serve her drink fast enough on an American Airlines flight from Jacksonville, Florida, to Washington, DC.
Miles was able to bond out of jail and on Friday learned that the charge was dismissed. She claims that she was going to the restroom and not trying to storm the cockpit.
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