Tokyo: Severe turbulence jolted a Tokyo-bound Northwest Airlines flight from Manila on Friday, injuring 47 people, officials said.
The turbulence hit the plane while it was circling off the coast of Chiba, east of Tokyo, about 30 minutes before landing, said Masashi Takahashi, a spokesman for Northwest Airlines in Tokyo. The plane suddenly descended, sending passengers without their seatbelts fastened lurching from their seats, he said.
The flight landed at the nearby Tokyo international airport around noon, Takahashi said.
Kenichi Fujii, a fire department official, said 47 people suffered injuries, none of them life-threatening. He had no further details. Officials earlier thought two passengers were seriously hurt, but they were in better condition than expected upon examination.
The Boeing 747-400 plane was carrying 408 passengers and 14 crew members.
All the injured were passengers, Takahashi said. Japanese TV networks showed them coming off the plane holding their heads and necks.
"I was so scared, I thought I would die," a passenger who was not named told the TBS television network. "My whole body was lifted into the air."
Fire trucks and ambulances were on the tarmac when the plane landed. One of the passengers was taken away on a wheelchair and another on a stretcher.
Officials refused to comment immediately on the injuries passengers suffered, though most were believed to have been hurt by bumping their heads or jerking their necks.
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