A routine holiday flight turned into a mid-air nightmare when an Air India jet suddenly dropped hundreds of feet, hurling passengers into the ceiling and scattering luggage across the cabin.
Flight AI2379, an Airbus A320 carrying 137 passengers and eight crew from Phuket to Delhi on Tuesday, was cruising smoothly at around 36,000 feet when it was slammed by severe turbulence.
In a matter of seconds, the aircraft plunged approximately 300 feet – around 90 metres – throwing unbelted passengers and crew violently around the cabin. Harrowing video filmed by a passenger and circulating online shows the chaotic aftermath: overhead bins ripped open, their doors hanging or lying in the aisle, bags and debris strewn across the floor, and shaken travellers clutching their heads in distress.
Cabin crew can be heard urgently shouting for everyone to fasten their seatbelts as the plane continued to be buffeted. One passenger, identified online as Minchen, captured the horror and later posted: “The worst two hours of my life. Please, please, please always wear your seatbelt on a plane, even when the seatbelt sign is off. I saw people being thrown into the air, hitting their heads, and getting injured. For a while, I genuinely thought we weren’t going to make it.”
Thirteen passengers and four crew members were injured in the incident. Some suffered head injuries after being slammed into the ceiling or overhead bins. One cabin crew member sustained a more serious spinal injury near the tailbone and neck.
Air India confirmed the flight experienced a “brief in-flight turbulence-related event during cruise, resulting in a momentary change in altitude.” The aircraft landed safely at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport, where the injured were taken for treatment.
By Wednesday, all 13 injured passengers had been discharged from hospital. The four crew members remained under medical care.
Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu visited some of the injured and said the turbulence lasted four to five minutes. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation has launched an investigation, with flight data and cockpit voice recorders secured for examination.
The dramatic footage has sparked renewed warnings from aviation experts and fellow travellers: always keep your seatbelt fastened, even when the sign is switched off. Clear-air turbulence can strike without warning and has no visible signs from the cockpit or cabin windows.
For those on board AI2379, what should have been a straightforward journey home from Thailand became a terrifying ordeal they will never forget.
A note on comments: Our advertisers enforce a strict zero-tolerance policy on racism, hate speech, and threats of violence. Any comment that crosses that line will be removed and the account permanently banned — no warnings. Debate hard, but keep it civil.