Two passengers and two flight attendants were hospitalized after suffering injuries aboard a flight that encountered turbulence on its way to Florida Wednesday.
Officials said the Allegiant flight was traveling from Asheville, North Carolina, to St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport with 179 passengers and six crew members onboard when it experienced “severe turbulence” before landing.
According to the flight-tracking site FlightAware, the plane dropped 5,000 feet in altitude in less than two minutes.
A passenger who was on the flight recounted the experience, saying she watched as one the crew members got hurt.
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"More than halfway through descending and all of sudden we heard a small turbulence. The stewardess fell to the ground," said Lisa Spriggs, a passenger on the flight. "Then we hit major turbulence which was petrifying and she was literally like 'the Matrix.' You can watch her go up in the air and land straight down. She broke her ankle."
Another passenger on the flight told NBC affiliate WFLA of Tampa that the turbulence caused “several people” who weren’t wearing seatbelts to hit the ceiling of the plane and that it caused the overhead bins to open up and break.
Passengers said the injured were taken off the plane on stretchers and were transported to the hospital. The conditions of the four injured people are not known at this time.
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The Federal Aviation Administration said it will investigate the incident.
