Passengers injured on two flights to Boston

BOSTON -- Passengers were injured on two flights that arrived in Boston Sunday night after going through severe turbulence.

The first flight was a JetBlue plane coming into Logan from San Juan, Puerto Rico. The second flight, a Lufthansa plane that took off from Charlotte bound for Germany, was diverted to Boston because several people were hurt mid-flight.

One passenger on the Lufthansa plane was brought off on a stretcher, one of 11 people injured on the Germany-bound flight. The flight had 145 passengers and 18 crew members on board.

“At one point we really dropped, it was like a roller coaster ride. It was serious,” one passenger said.

There were 128 passengers on board the JetBlue flight that arrived to Logan Airport from Puerto Rico about an hour before the Lufthansa flight. Nine passengers were evaluated by emergency responders after the plane was rocked by extreme turbulence.

“I experienced long periods of turbulence where you’re going through something -- a storm -- but this was out of the blue and we just kind of…a huge drop,” said Dierdre O’Reilly, a JetBlue passenger.

Passengers said the plane plunged about 300 feet when they hit rough air flying through the Bermuda Triangle on Sunday night.

The injuries sustained were mostly back and neck pain, although one person suffered burns when coffee spilled.

“Apparently some people didn’t have their seat belts on and I think those are the ones that may have been hurt,” said O’Reilly.

The passengers said the turbulence lasted all of five minutes, but it left them pretty terrified.

“It was scary. I never have stayed awake on a flight before. I stayed awake all the way through,” said one passenger.

The Lufthansa flight left Logan Airport for Germany in the middle of the night. It didn’t have any more problems.

The FAA is investigating both of these cases.

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