CNN
—
According to the airline and local emergency officials, seven people were injured when “severe turbulence” rocked a United Airlines flight and forced an emergency landing in Memphis.
The Boeing 737 was en route from Cancun, Mexico, to Chicago on Wednesday when turbulence occurred, United said.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the turbulence was first reported while flying over Louisiana.
This is the latest case of turbulence disrupting a commercial flight in recent months. In May, there was already a Singapore Airlines flight in which one passenger died and 71 people were injured after the plane hit severe turbulence. Last week, two crew members of an EasyJet flight from Corfu, Greece, to London were injured when the plane suddenly hit turbulence, officials said. And last month, 30 passengers were injured on an Air Europa flight from Madrid to Uruguay due to “severe turbulence,” the airline said.
“United flight 1196 was diverted to Memphis this afternoon after coming into land during a brief period of severe turbulence while the fasten seatbelt sign was illuminated,” the airline said in a statement to CNN on Wednesday. “Paramedics met the aircraft at the gate and transported one passenger to the hospital.”
The severity of this passenger’s injuries is unknown, the Memphis Fire Department said. Six other people refused treatment.
According to United, there were 179 people on board, including seven crew members. After the stopover in Memphis, the flight continued to O’Hare International Airport, where it arrived two hours late, according to aircraft tracking website FlightAware.
Although turbulence rarely results in injury or death, it is the leading cause of injuries to flight attendants and passengers in nonfatal accidents, according to the FAA. And a study from the University of Reading reported that severe turbulence has increased by 55% over the past four decades due to the effects of climate change.
The FAA said it is investigating the United Airlines incident.
CNN’s Ross Levitt and Jillian Sykes contributed to this report.
