7 injured after Lufthansa flight experiences ‘severe’ turbulence, diverts to DC

AUSTIN (KXAN) – Seven folks aboard a Lufthansa flight from Texas to Germany had been taken to hospitals within the Washington, D.C., space Wednesday night time after their airplane was diverted resulting from vital turbulence.

Lufthansa flight 469 was heading from Austin to Frankfurt when, round 90 minutes into the journey, the flight skilled “transient however extreme turbulence,” a consultant for Lufthansa stated in an announcement shared with Nexstar’s KXAN.

The plane, an Airbus A330-300, then diverted to Washington Dulles Worldwide Airport simply outdoors of D.C., the place it landed safely round 8:10 p.m., in keeping with Dulles Airport media.

Seven folks had been taken to space hospitals for the therapy of minor accidents, officers stated.

A Lufthansa consultant stated the airline was working to rebook affected vacationers.

“Lufthansa regrets the inconvenience triggered to passengers,” the assertion continued. “The security and well-being of passengers and crew members is Lufthansa’s prime precedence always.”

As KXAN reported in early 2022, Lufthansa, the German nationwide airline, had solely resumed nonstop service between Austin and Frankfort in April 2022 after a hiatus throughout the pandemic.

Information of Wednesday night time’s Lufthansa incident comes two months after 11 passengers on a Hawaiian Airways flight between Phoenix and Honolulu had been critically injured amid unusually extreme turbulence.

The Nationwide Transportation Security Board later stated that exact incident of turbulence was attributable to a cloud that “shot up” vertically towards the plane, leaving the crew with no time to deviate or warn passengers.