17 Injured After Air India Flight Hits Severe Turbulence, Drops 300 Feet

A sudden and severe turbulence event aboard an Air India flight from Phuket, Thailand, to New Delhi on Tuesday, August 4, left 17 people injured and sent multiple passengers colliding with the aircraft cabin ceiling. The aircraft experienced an unexpected loss of altitude during cruise and descended approximately 300 feet before stabilizing, according to reports from The Times of India. The plane continued its flight and landed safely in New Delhi despite the harrowing incident.

The flight carried 137 passengers and eight crew members, of whom 13 passengers and four crew members required hospitalization for medical treatment. Five of the injured were discharged by Monday evening, while the remaining victims continued receiving care at medical facilities. An Air India spokesperson confirmed in a statement that the airline prioritizes passenger and crew safety and pledged full cooperation with authorities investigating the event.

Eyewitness accounts from those aboard painted a picture of chaos and fear as the turbulence struck without warning. Palak Raniwala, whose father was struck in the head hard enough to touch the ceiling, described the experience as traumatic and noted that flight crew members appeared visibly shaken by the incident. Another passenger, Viviana, recounted watching her sister thrown from her seat and her mother struck on the head, saying the ordeal left her convinced the aircraft was going down.

Travel industry expert Gary Leff told Fox News Digital that while serious turbulence-related injuries remain statistically rare, occurring in approximately one of every 1.2 million departures, flight attendants face greater risk than seated passengers. Leff emphasized that passengers should remain buckled during flight and noted that four of the six flight attendants on the aircraft sustained injuries. He added that aviation remains significantly safer than automobile travel as a mode of transportation.