Several passengers were injured in the rough weather early Sunday morning, three or four of whom had to be taken to hospital after landing in the Azores.
All but one of the passengers were reportedly discharged from hospital shortly after being admitted, while the remaining injured passenger, believed to be an 81-year-old woman with a leg fracture, was kept in.
Passengers were put up in hotels overnight and resumed their journey on Monday morning after a replacement aeroplane was flown in.
The elderly woman with the fractured leg was still receiving hospital care on Monday morning and did not continue the journey on the replacement aircraft.
The aircraft involved in the occurrence had to be inspected for any structural damage that might have been caused by the severe turbulence, which reportedly lasted around four minutes.
The flight from Washington/Dulles (US) to Doha (Qatar) was carrying 350 people on board when it ran into the stormy weather.
Website Aviation Herald reported “The aircraft entered a hold at 6000 feet to dump fuel and landed safely on Lajes’ runway 15 about 35 minutes after setting course towards Lajes.
“One passenger received a serious injury (fractured leg) in the upset, two minor injuries, another passenger complained about heart ache causing concerns of a possible heart attack, which turned out not true however.”
Passengers travelling on the flight reported feeling the Boeing 777-300 plunge while it was over the Atlantic Ocean about 115 nautical miles northeast of Lajes’ Terceira Island.
Aviation Herald elaborated: “Passengers reported the aircraft dropped suddenly causing passengers with seatbelts not fastened to be thrown out of their seats; for example a three-year-old boy was thrown across the aisle onto the lap of another passenger.
“Other passengers hit the ceiling, resulting in a number of injuries. A number of oxygen masks dropped as result of the turbulence encounter.”
Portugal’s Air Accident Prevention and Investigation Bureau (GPIAA) has launched a probe into the occurrence.
A yellow weather warning had been issued by Portugal’s Met office for all nine of the islands making up the Azores archipelago on Sunday, due to forecasts of rain, thunder and strong winds.