A stroke of luck

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An Air Europa plane had to make an emergency landing in Brazil.(Bild: AFP/Jorge Guerrero)

Following turbulence with several injuries, a passenger plane on its way from Spain to Uruguay made an emergency landing in Brazil on Monday. However, the incident is likely to have had a mild outcome for everyone involved.

As the Spanish airline Air Europa announced on the online service X, the Boeing 787-9 aircraft landed at the airport in the north-eastern Brazilian city of Natal after "severe turbulence".

Between 25 and 30 people were injured in the incident, according to the Uruguayan Foreign Ministry. However, the number is provisional. "At first glance", none of the injured were in mortal danger, most had only suffered minor injuries. According to the Foreign Ministry, some of the injured were hospitalized.

Replacement plane takes off from Madrid
As the company operating the airport in the Brazilian city explained, the plane landed there at 2.42 a.m. local time (4.42 a.m. CEST). According to the airline Air Europa, another plane is due to take off from Madrid to take the passengers who landed in Natal to Montevideo.

In May, one man died and more than a hundred people were injured as a result of severe turbulence on a flight from London to Singapore. A Boeing aircraft was also affected at that time.

Severe turbulence on the rise
According to experts, turbulence - and in particular so-called clear-air turbulence, which is not detected by on-board radar - is becoming more frequent due to climate change. According to a study from 2023, the average duration of turbulence increased by 16% between 1979 and 2020. The number of severe turbulences increased by more than 50 percent.