Two passengers in hospital after Qantas flight hits severe turbulence

Two people were taken to hospital after severe turbulence hit a QantasLink flight.

Flight QF2376 had departedfrom Brisbane Airport for Hervey Bay Airport at 12.40pm on 1 February when the incident occurred.

The aircraft was flying at 16,000ft above Rainbow Bay and was half an hour into its journey when there was reportedly a “loud crash”.

“All of a sudden there was just a loud crash and a couple of people weren’t strapped and hit the top, hit the roof,” one passenger told7 News.

One member of cabin crew was “knocked out” because of the turbulence, another eyewitness added.

After circling for several minutes, the De Havilland Canada Dash 8-400 plane was diverted back to Brisbane.

It landed before 2pm and emergency responders met injured passengers upon arrival.

Seven people were injured in total, including passengers and cabin crew.

After all injured parties had been attended to by ambulance crew on the ground at Brisbane Airport, two people were subsequently taken to St Andrew’s War Memorial Hospital in Brisbane.

They were treated in hospital overnight.

Those injured during the turbulence were not thought to have been wearing seatbelts at the time, according to reports.

Qantas said in a statement: “Cabin crew helped attend to customers in the air and once the aircraft landed on the ground.”

The remaining passengers have since arrived in Hervey Bay after being put on another flight.

This is the latest in a string of incidents to have affected Qantas flights in recent weeks.

In January, a Qantas flight from Adelaide to Perth had to turn back partway into its journey as the correct paperwork hadn’t been completed, while another Qantas Fiji flight made a U-turn after take-off in Sydney.

The Independent has contacted Qantas for further comment.