Severe air turbulence rose by 50 per cent in the last 40 years
A British Airways flight turned around after it encountered severe turbulence at 30,000 feet, leaving one flight attendant needing surgery. According to a report by South China Morning Post, BA Flight 12 from Singapore Changi to London Heathrow Airport ran into severe turbulence over the Bay of Bengal, injuring five flight attendants.
A source told the publication, one of the crew members was hurt so seriously that he required surgery on his ankle and femur, while another crew member suffered an ankle dislocation.
According to data from Flight Aware, Flight BA12 left Changi Airport at 11.16 pm on Thursday and was originally scheduled to arrive in London at about 6 am (London time) on Friday. It landed in Singapore instead at about 4 am on Friday after turning back following the turbulence. The data showed that Boeing 777 was in the air for almost three hours when it turned around.
A British Airways representative in a statement said, "Safety is always our priority and we're looking after our crew after one of our flights experienced a rare episode of severe turbulence. Our highly trained team on board reassured customers and the aircraft returned to Singapore as a precaution.
"We've apologised to customers for the delay to their flight and provided them with hotel accommodation and information on their consumer rights. We're rebooking customers onto the next available flights with us and other airlines."
Severe air turbulence rose by 50 per cent in the last 40 years, with some blaming climate change.