United Flight suffering in-flight jolt leaves six injured while making emergency landing VIDEO

Six people were injured when a United Airlines flight traveling from Lagos, Nigeria, to Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia experienced a sudden in-flight jolt, causing the plane to make an emergency landing in Lagos, the airline confirmed.

According to United Airlines, four passengers and two crew members were hurt during the incident, Caliber.Az reports per foreign media.

 A video taken by passengers onboard shows a chaotic scene, with trays, food, and other objects scattered across the floor of the aircraft.

The plane, Flight 613, returned to Lagos, where the six injured individuals were transported to a nearby hospital. All have since been released, United Airlines spokesperson Leslie Scott said.

“The cause of the in-flight jolt is unclear at this time,” United Airlines said in a statement, adding that it was not due to severe turbulence. The airline also mentioned it was “working with aviation authorities in the US and Nigeria to understand the cause.”

Flight data from FlightRadar24 indicated that Flight 613 made a sudden descent from cruising altitude approximately 93 minutes after takeoff. The same aircraft had been diverted earlier in the week, on January 21, when FlightRadar data showed another rapid descent of 1,000 feet about 89 minutes into that flight. It is still unclear if the diversions on both occasions are connected.

Flight 613, which was carrying 245 passengers, eight flight attendants, and three pilots, has since been grounded, with United Airlines working to accommodate passengers on other flights.

Michael Achimugu, Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection at Nigeria’s Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), confirmed the incident. “There were no fatalities,” Achimugu emphasized, according to state-run Radio Nigeria. He also stated that the affected passengers had been provided accommodation in hotels.

The aircraft involved in the incident was a Boeing 787, which had already been under review by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) following a similar mid-air dive on a Latam Airlines flight last March. In that previous incident, investigators discovered that a pilot’s seat had lurched forward and into the plane’s control column, causing the plane’s nose to drop. As a result, Boeing issued an advisory to operators of the Boeing 787, urging them to inspect cockpit seat switches to prevent similar occurrences.

By Vafa Guliyeva