25 Hospitalized After Turbulent Delta Flight Reportedly Sends Passengers Airborne

Twenty-five people were hospitalized Wednesday after a Delta Air Lines flight experienced extreme turbulence, forcing the plane to make an emergency landing in Minnesota. According to some of the plane’s passengers, the turbulence was so severe that people were tossed into the air.

Delta flight DL56 was flying from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam when it “encountered significant turbulence while enroute,” the airline said in a statement.

Passengers said anyone not wearing a seat belt at the time of the turbulence was violently thrown into the air. Leeann Clement-Nash detailed what she saw to ABC News.

“They hit the ceiling, and then they fell to the ground,” she said. “And the carts also hit the ceiling and fell to the ground, and people were injured. And it was, it happened several times, so it was really scary.”

Fellow passenger William Webster told CNN that he was wearing a seat belt at the time, but that the turbulence still lifted him out of his seat “for like 30 seconds.”

“I watched a wine cart just get thrown into the air,” he told the network. “People lost phones. Like, people were screaming. It was crazy.”

Joseph Carbone also told CNN that he saw a flight attendant “just about” hit the ceiling.

“I truly thought the plane was going to go down,” he said.

The Airbus A330-900 landed at Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport, where medical personnel evaluated passengers and crew, resulting in more than two dozen people being taken to local hospitals for further evaluation and care.

“We are grateful for the support of all emergency responders involved,” the airline said in its statement.

Turbulence is air movement that often occurs unexpectedly. It is the result of different air conditions, including atmospheric pressure, jet streams, air around mountains, cold or warm weather fronts or thunderstorms, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.