Lightning Strikes Plane, Seven Passengers Hospitalized
At least seven people were injured on a flight heading to Texas after lightning reportedly struck the plane.
Lufthansa flight 469, which was flying from Frankfurt, Germany, to Austin, Texas, was diverted to Dulles International Airport in Virginia after experiencing “significant turbulence” on Wednesday night, a spokesperson for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority confirmed to Newsweek.
The plane landed safely at at 9:12 p.m., the spokesperson said.”Authority personnel responded to the flight and transported seven people to local hospitals,” they added.
The turbulence occurred at 37,000 feet over Tennessee, WUSA9 reported.
A man on Twitter said his wife had been on the flight and that the people who had been injured were not wearing seat belts because the turbulence came as a surprise.
“My wife was on that flight she sent this pic,” Twitter user @ModerMuna wrote alongside a photo.
My wife was on that flight she sent this pic This is what the inside looked like food everywhere, people who didn’t have the seat belts fastened got hurt mostly cause it came as surprise without seat belt sign on and lighting hit the plane badly went 1k ft down & up pilot said pic.twitter.com/NJi2JC6shk — StrykerWTF (@ModerMuna) March 2, 2023
“This is what the inside looked like food everywhere, people who didn’t have the seat belts fastened got hurt mostly cause it came as surprise without seat belt sign on and lighting hit the plane badly went 1k ft down & up.”
Newsweek has contacted Lufthansa, the Federal Aviation Administration and the Twitter user for comment.
