7 people were injured on a Lufthansa flight

A Lufthansa flight between Austin, Texas, and Frankfurt, Germany “encountered brief but severe turbulence,” resulting in the hospitalization of seven passengers.

On March 1, 2023, an Airbus A330 was forced to make a detour and landed at Dulles International Airport (IAD) just after 9 o’clock.

According to Lufthansa, the Washington stop was made as a “precautionary measure” to allow injured passengers to receive medical care.

About 90 minutes after takeoff, Lufthansa aircraft LH469 experienced brief but severe turbulence. As a precaution, the Lufthansa airplane made an unscheduled landing at Washington Dulles Airport. Affected passengers received medical assistance once Aircraft A330-300 touched down.

A passenger on a flight from the United States to Germany reportedly claimed that the plane entered “free fall.”

The plane’s ceiling “went flying into the air, hitting and even damaging the ceiling of the plane,” they recalled.

He wrote: “This is what the inside looked like food everywhere, people who didn’t have the seat belts fastened got hurt mostly because it came as surprise without seat belt sign on and lighting hit the plane badly went 1k ft down & up pilot said.”

As passengers are still sitting in their seats, the picture shows trash and people’s possessions scattered across the cabin hallway.

The incident was “exceptionally horrifying, [with] loads of broken glass, shouting, and several injuries,” another passenger told The Sun.

“Lufthansa Flight 469 landed without incident around 9.10pm local time after the crew reported encountering severe turbulence at 37,000 feet altitude over Tennessee,“ the US Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) wrote in a statement.

Customers apparently received a webpage link from Lufthansa to request a refund.

“Lufthansa regrets the inconvenience caused to passengers. The safety and well-being of passengers and crew members is Lufthansa’s top priority at all times,” the airline said.