U.S.-Bound Flight Hits Turbulence Over Pacific; 1 Killed, Scores Hurt

A United Airlines jumbo jet with 393 people aboard hit massive air turbulence over the Pacific Ocean on Sunday night, killing one passenger and injuring dozens of others aboard.

Passengers and serving carts were flung to the ceiling as the plane dived almost 1,000 feet when it flew into the turbulence at 33,000 feet.

Officials at Narita airport near Tokyo said the incident happened just after passengers had finished eating a meal, two hours after the Boeing 747 left the airport at 9:05 p.m.

Flight 826, bound for Honolulu with 374 passengers and 19 crew members aboard, flew back safely to Narita, landing at 2:25 a.m.

“We have just hit air turbulence, and the aircraft descended 300 meters. There is no danger of a crash,” the pilot told panicked passengers on the plane’s intercom.

A passenger video taken of the interior of the plane and aired on Japanese television showed screaming passengers being flung around the cabin and oxygen masks hanging from the ceiling.

Meals littered the cabin, and the ceiling was damaged.

A Federal Aviation Authority spokesman in Washington said the “fasten seat belt” sign was on, but preliminary reports indicated that some people were moving about the cabin.

“Our preliminary information is that United Airlines Flight 826 encountered severe turbulence at 33,000 feet and returned to Tokyo’s Narita airport,” he said.

A United Airlines spokesman said 10 of the 374 passengers were seriously injured and had to remain hospitalized. Nine of the 19 crew members also were hurt.

The pilot decided to return to Tokyo because of the injuries on board, the spokesman said.

The passenger killed in the mishap, identified by officials as a 32-year-old Japanese woman, was flung to the ceiling during the dive and died shortly after she arrived at a hospital.

Officials said 110 other passengers were injured, some of them seriously. The injured were taken to hospitals near Narita airport.