The diverted Air Canada flight from China finally landed in Toronto on Thursday, bringing the majority of the passengers aboard to their destination on New Year's Eve after 21 people were injured due to strong turbulence.
Flight AC088 was en route to Toronto from Shanghai Pudong Airport when it was hit by violent turbulence and forced to stop in the city of Calgary in west Canada's Alberta province on Wednesday to treat the injured, Air Canada said in a statement.
Twenty-one passengers, including three children, were taken to hospital for treatment in Calgary. The airline said eight people had non-life threatening injuries, and that the rest 13 were simply under observation.
All the hospitalized Chinese passengers have been treated and discharged by Thursday morning, the Chinese Consulate-General in Calgary told Xinhua. The airplane, a Boeing 777-300ER, had 332 passengers and 19 crew members.
Air Canada said about 50 passengers stayed overnight in Calgary, and "all but a few" would continue to their final destination Thursday. The flight arrived at Toronto's Pearson International Airport at 3 a.m. local time Thursday.
Passengers called the 45-minute experiences terrifying, saying that people who were not wearing seat-belts went flying and thrown into the cabin's ceiling.
Chinese passenger Bing Feng said she feared the worst amid the turbulence. "There was a lot of screaming and a lot of kids crying," she said. "You saw all the oxygen masks drop. Everything went flying. I was really scared."
Some recalled that passengers were told by an announcement in the cabin to put on their seatbelts before the severe turbulence started. The passengers who didn't or those who were sleeping and didn't hear the message appeared to have suffered the most serious injuries.
Passenger Suzanne Caudry, a periodontist, worked to help some of the injured. "If there's a message here, it's wear your seatbelt," she said. "I think it should be mandated that you wear them at all times."
Air Canada crew have been praised for handling it professionally and helping injured passengers who had to wait an hour before the plane was able to land in Calgary.
Officials from the Transportation and Safety Board of Canada said it deployed investigators Wednesday night to the Calgary airport to "assess the incident."
An investigation was underway to look at weather conditions, age of the aircraft, and skill of the pilots.
