Avianca flight turbulence leaves 8 hospitalized, forces emergency landing
At least eight people were hospitalized early Friday morning after a flight to New York City from Colombia diverted to the Miami International Airport for an emergency landing due to severe turbulence.
An official at Miami International Airport told Global News that Avianca Flight 042 was travelling from Medellín, Colombia, to New York City’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) and had to “divert to MIA due to turbulence.”
The flight landed at 3:30 a.m. on Friday and eight passengers were transported to a nearby hospital, said Greg Chin, communications director of the Miami-Dade Aviation Department.
Plane makes emergency landing on Highway 1 near Banff
The remaining passengers departed at 8:15 a.m. local time on a flight to JFK, Chin added.
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The flight was diverted to Miami “as a precautionary measure and in accordance with the airline’s safety protocols,” a spokesperson for the airline told Global News.
“Three cabin crew members and six passengers were affected by the turbulence. Upon arrival, Avianca’s team and airport medical services activated the appropriate protocols to provide immediate care,” the airline added.
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“For the remaining passengers, Avianca’s airport team has made the necessary arrangements to continue their travel to New York, providing assistance and support throughout the process,” the statement continued.
“Avianca remains in contact with the affected passengers and crew members as it continues to respond to the situation,” it added.
Avianca said that the safety of their customers and employees “is, and will remain, the foundation of our operations.”
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue (MDFR) told Global News that eight units responded to a medical call following reports of turbulence in an aircraft.
“Due to the number of patients, the call was upgraded to a Level One Mass Casualty Incident. There was a total of eight patients. One patient was transported by MDFR to the main trauma center. The other seven patients were transported to local-area hospitals by private ambulances,” a spokesperson for Miami-Dade Fire Rescue said.
One passenger on the flight told NBC Miami that they thought “it was the end for us.”
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“It was incredibly intense — something I’ve never experienced in my life,” the passenger said.
Speaking with the passengers aboard Delta flight which hit extreme turbulence
In July 2025, a Delta Air Lines flight bound for Amsterdam from Salt Lake City was forced to make an emergency landing in Minneapolis after more than two dozen passengers were injured during turbulence.
Airport fire department staff and paramedics were on standby when the Airbus A330-900, Flight DL56, landed, according to The Associated Press.
The airline later reported that 25 passengers were taken to various hospitals for evaluation and treatment.
One passenger said the people who were injured were not wearing their seatbelts.
“They hit the ceiling, and then they fell to the ground and the carts also hit the ceiling and fell to the ground and people were injured. It happened several times, so it was really scary,” Leann Clement-Nash told ABC News.
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Another passenger, William Webster, told CNN he takes approximately 80 flights a year, and called it “the craziest turbulence I’ve ever seen in my life.”
“I felt the centrifugal force. I was off my seat for like 30 seconds with the turbulence,” he said.
Delta applauded the response of emergency services.
“We are grateful for the support of all emergency responders involved,” it said in a statement.
According to the National Transportation Safety Board, between 2009 and 2022, 163 people were seriously injured enough from turbulence to require hospital treatment for at least two days.
Most of them were flight attendants, who are more at risk of injury because they move around the cabin during flights.
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