NZ passenger on Latam flight saw man with ‘blood streaming down his face’

People on board the Latam flight that experienced a sudden loss of altitude saw passengers flying through the cabin and others covered in blood after the terrifying incident.

A technical failure on board Chilean airline Latam Flight LA800 from Sydney to Auckland is believed to have caused the plane to plunge and prompted a major emergency service response at the airport yesterday.

Fifty people were treated by St John at the scene once the plane touched down, and 13 required further treatment at hospital. Four remain in Middlemore Hospital with “significant” injuries, says Health NZ Te Whatu Ora.

Latam said in a statement this morning that the cause of the incident, which the airline described as a “strong shake”, was currently under investigation.

Latam released new details on the passengers injured during the flight, saying they were from five different countries.

Ten passengers, from Brazil, France, Australia, Chile, and New Zealand, as well as three cabin crew members were taken to hospital.

Health NZ Te Whatu Ora said five people are still in hospital this morning - four at Middlemore Hospital and one at Auckland City - and are all in a stable condition.

Auckland-based passenger Lucas Ellwood saw three men “flying in the air” when the sudden drop occurred and saw a number of his fellow passengers in “immense distress”.

“A man was in the toilet when the jolt happened, he came out of the bathroom with blood streaming down one side of his face.”

Ellwood, who was flying home from a large family reunion, was wearing his seatbelt and didn’t suffer any injuries.

“It’s validated my belief in seatbelts,” he said.

Ellwood described the response by the crew as “adequate”, but he said there was an “extended period of time with no communications or first aid response other than ice”.

“We were all praying for the pilots,” Ellwood said.

In the aftermath of the mid-air scare, a pilot inspecting the cabin told passengers his instrument panel went blank briefly, before it all came back.

An ambulance leaving Auckland International Airport after passengers were injured during a Latam flight from Sydney to Auckland yesterday afternoon. Photo / Dean Purcell

Another passenger on the flight, Priscilla Waller-Subritzky, told the Herald she was watching a movie when the plane lost altitude and “a number of passengers and crew were thrown into the roof of the plane”.

The incident occurred with about an hour left in the flight yesterday.

“I went into fight mode and just started jumping in and helping where I could because the crew were injured so couldn’t help.”

Waller-Subritzky said once the adrenaline wore off, she experienced a lot of pain and headed for the emergency department.

“I’ve been on plenty of flights before but that was completely out the gate.”

Fourteen Hato Hone St John units rushed to the airport yesterday afternoon after they were notified at 3.58pm of an incident on board the flight.

St John crews treated about 50 patients, with one patient in a serious condition and the remainder in a moderate to minor condition. Ten patients were transported to Middlemore Hospital, one to Auckland City Hospital and another to Starship children’s hospital.

Seven ambulances, two operations managers, two major incident support team vehicles, one command unit and two rapid response vehicles attended the scene.

An ambulance at Auckland International Airport after passengers were injured during a Latam flight from Sydney. Photo / Dean Purcell

Another passenger told the Herald he had never experienced anything like that in 15 years of flying.

“The plane dipped so dramatically into a nose dive for a couple of seconds and around 30 people hit the ceiling hard,” said Daniel.

Daniel, who was travelling from London, said passengers were screaming and it was hard to tell if there was red wine or blood splattered throughout the plane.

“None of us knew what had happened until after the flight, I was just trying to keep everyone calm. We never heard any announcement from the captain.”

He had a sleepless night “tossing and turning” after the terrifying experience and hasn’t had any communication from Latam overnight.

Video obtained by the Herald shows multiple distressed passengers holding their heads after the incident.

About 50 patients have been treated by ambulance crews and 13 were transported to Middlemore Hospital. Photo / Dean Purcell

‘It was like The Exorcist’

Brian Jokat told RNZ the plane “just dropped” about two-thirds of the way through the flight.

“There was no pre-turbulence, we were just sailing smoothly the whole way,” he said.

“I had just dozed off and I luckily had my seatbelt on, and all of a sudden the plane just dropped.

“It wasn’t one of those things where you hit turbulence and you drop a few times ... we just dropped.”

A passenger two seats away from him was not wearing his seatbelt and flew up and hit the ceiling, Jokat said.

“I thought I was dreaming. I opened my eyes and he was on the roof of the plane on his back, looking down on me. It was like The Exorcist.”

The man then fell back to the floor, breaking his ribs on his armrest, Jokat said.

Three or four other people had hit the ceiling too, breaking some of the plane’s interior with their heads and shoulders, he said.

“Then people just started screaming. I felt the plane take a nosedive - it felt like it was at the top of a rollercoaster, and then it flattened out again.”

The incident took “split seconds”, Jokat said.

Afterwards, a few doctors on board “patched up” the injured, with the assistance of the flight crew.

There were “some seriously injured people”, he said, some had broken bones, while others had neck and head injuries.

Jokat said the pilot came to the back of the plane once the plane landed.

“I asked him ‘what happened?’ and he said to me ‘I lost my instrumentation briefly and then it just came back all of a sudden’.

“I know he felt really bad for everyone.”

Another passenger, Valentina, told RNZ the plane “just stopped” about 50 minutes out of Auckland.

“People were flying around and everything was super scary,” she said.

“Blood was on the ceiling, people [flew] and broke the ceiling of the plane.”

Valentina said she would be “very scared” to get on a flight again.

She received minor injuries during the ordeal, but had been treated and was doing okay, she said.

- with RNZ

Benjamin Plummer is an Auckland-based reporter who covers breaking news. He has worked for the Herald since 2022.