Cape Town – At least 25 passengers
were injured when a passenger jet travelling from South Africa to Hong Kong hit
severe turbulence on Wednesday, South African Airways Spokesperson, Tlali Tlali
has confirmed.
Tlali said that flight SA286, which
took off from Johannesburg, encountered severe turbulence while in the Kuala
Lumpur airspace.
He said the crew of the flight
immediately requested medical assistance for the passengers, which was arranged
and ready on arrival of the aircraft in Hong Kong.
He said there were 165 passengers
on board in addition to the 25 passengers who were injured; three crew members
also needed treatment.
Local Hong Kong television channels
have reported that several ambulances were on the tarmac when the four-engine
Airbus A340-300 touched down and several were transferred to city hospitals.
There were unconfirmed reports that
two of the injured were in a serious condition.
Report says it is unclear at this
stage whether the aircraft was damaged.
SAA, which is the biggest airline
in Africa, has an excellent safety record.
The last major accident occurred
nearly 30 years ago when a Boeing 747 suffered a catastrophic in-flight fire in
the cargo area and crashed into the Indian Ocean east of Mauritius.
However all the 140 passengers and
19 crew members died.
SOURCE: vanguardngr.com
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