Jon Snook, the airline’s chief working officer, stated the airline hasn’t skilled “an incident of this nature in recent history.” The flight was full, carrying 278 passengers and 10 crew members, he stated throughout a day information convention.

Jim Ireland, director of Honolulu Emergency Medical Services, stated 36 folks acquired remedy, together with these with nausea or minor accidents. He stated 20 folks had been taken to hospitals, together with 11 folks deemed to be in critical situation. The injured included three flight attendants, Snook stated.

“We are also very happy and we feel fortunate that there were not any deaths or other critical injuries. And we’re also very hopeful that all will recover and make a full recovery,” Ireland stated.

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Passenger Kaylee Reyes advised Hawaii News Now that her mom had simply sat down when the turbulence hit and didn’t have an opportunity to buckle her security belt.

“She flew up and hit the ceiling,” Reyes stated.Snook stated there was some inner harm to the plane through the turbulence. The seatbelt signal was on on the time, although a few of these injured weren’t carrying their seatbelts, he stated.Thomas Vaughan, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Honolulu, stated there had been a climate advisory for thunderstorms that included Oahu and areas that may have included the flight path on the time of the incident.

The airline was conscious of the climate forecast and the unstable air and climate situations, however had no warning the actual patch of air the place the turbulence occurred “was in any way dangerous,” Snook stated.He didn’t know the way a lot altitude the airplane misplaced through the turbulence, saying that may be a part of an investigation involving the National Transportation Safety Board.

The airplane’s flight knowledge recorder would offer these particulars, he stated. The Airbus A330-200 started its descent instantly after the turbulence and crew declared an emergency as a result of variety of accidents on board, he stated. Air visitors controllers gave the flight precedence to land.

The plane will endure an thorough inspection and upkeep, principally to repair parts within the cabin, Snook stated. Snook stated he may solely speculate whether or not some passengers hit their heads, however that was doubtless primarily based on the accidents and the harm to cabin paneling.

“If you don’t have your seatbelt on, you stay where you are as the aircraft goes down and that’s how those injuries occur,” Snook stated. The investigation will study what different measures had been taken, other than turning on the fasten seatbelt signal, to make sure passengers had been buckled in, he stated.