A Sunday report confirmed injuries onboard a Qatar Airways flight from Doha to Ireland, following an occurrence of turbulence. Despite the mid-air disturbance, the plane managed to land safely and according to its intended schedule at the Dublin Airport.
The airplane in question, the QR017 flight, operated on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner and arrived in Dublin a little prior to 1 p.m. local time or 1200 GMT, according to Dublin airport officials.
After confirmation of landing, the plane was met with a response team consisting of Airport Police and the Fire and Rescue department. The action was necessitated due to reported injuries from 6 passengers and an equal number of crew members, rounding up to a total of 12 injured individuals. This incident reportedly occurred as the plane flew over Turkey.
Irish broadcaster, RTE provided details from arriving passengers, stating that the incident lasted under 20 seconds and interrupted the food and beverage service on the flight.
Qatar Airways acknowledged the event and mentioned a "small number" of passengers and crew as having sustained minor injuries, all of whom were under medical care. While the airline did not directly address the turbulence, they assured that an internal inquiry was current underway.
This mishap comes within a week of a similar incident involving a flight from Singapore Airlines, which was compelled to land in Bangkok due to extreme turbulence. That incident resulted in the death of a 73-year-old British national and 20 others being admitted to intensive care.
Airline accidents related to turbulence are among the most prevalent, as per a 2021 study by the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board. In the period 2009 to 2018, they discovered that over one-third of airline accidents were turbulence-related, causing serious injuries in most cases, but leaving the aircraft undamaged.