The chances of being struck by lightning can be extremely rare, but for passengers on a flight from Texas to Germany, ‘rare’ has become very real – seven were hospitalized in a freak accident due to a lightning.
Lufthansa Flight 469 encountered a lightning strike on Wednesday and fell more than 1,000 feet before making an emergency landing in Virginia.
“Lufthansa Flight 469 diverted to Dulles International Airport and landed without incident at approximately 9:10 p.m. local time after the crew reported encountering severe turbulence at 37,000 feet above the Tennessee,” the FAA said in a statement seen by CBS News. “The Airbus 330 was flying from Austin, Texas to Frankfurt, Germany. The FAA will investigate.”
On Twitter, a man named Stryker Fadhel alleged his wife was on board the flight and shared a disturbing image of the wreckage after the strike.
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“Here’s what the inside looked like food everywhere, people who didn’t fasten their seatbelts got hurt mainly because it was a surprise with no seatbelt sign and the lighting hit plane improperly descended and climbed back to 1,000ft, pilot said,” he wrote alongside the photo.
My wife was on that flight she sent this picture That’s how the inside looked like food everywhere people who didn’t have seat belts fastened got hurt mostly because it was a surprise with no seatbelt sign and lighting went wrong the plane 1,000 meters up and down says a pilot pic.twitter.com/NJi2JC6shk
— Stryker Fadhel (@ModerMuna) March 2, 2023
Responding to users in the reply section, Fadhel explained that his wife was put in a hotel room for the night following the incident and was put on a flight to Germany the next day. . He added that some passengers were placed on different airlines in a bid to get everyone out in a timely manner.
“The safety and well-being of passengers and crew members is Lufthansa’s top priority at all times”, Lufthansa Airlines said PA.
One passenger told the outlet that it “felt like the bottom had just dropped from below”, giving the impression of being “weightless”.
” Savage ! And why they tell you to wear your seatbelt even when the sign is off,” one user tweeted. underline.
The FAA has not confirmed claims on social media that lightning was the direct cause of the turbulence.
Related: Plane makes emergency landing after ‘unruly passenger’ triggers Level 4 threat