Terrifying turbulence: People sent 'up in the air' during 'roller coaster' jolts to Dublin flight

Ambulances at the scene of an emergency on board a Qatar airways flight at Dublin Airport on Sunday. Picture: Damien Storan.

Eight people were taken to hospital with injuries after a Qatar Airways flight to Dublin Airport suffered "terrifying" turbulence that left passengers crying and praying for safety.

Emergency services, including Airport Police and Fire and Rescue services, met 12 injured people - six passengers and six cabin crew - when the flight landed just before 1pm on Sunday afternoon.

The injuries happened when the flight from Doha to Dublin experienced severe turbulence over Turkey.

Passengers reported a sudden jolt and dramatic drop in altitude that sent crew members flying 'up in the air' and left a number of people with cuts and grazes.

Passenger Phil Prendergast, who was on the last leg of a trip from Australia with family members, told the Irish Examiner that the incident unfolded around an hour and a half into the flight when crew were serving meals.

“And all of a sudden, I can describe it as being like a roller coaster, where you go up on these high things, and they just drop you,” she said.

“And that’s exactly what happened. We were lucky as we had our seat belts on. But you were just lifted off the seat anyway.” Ms Prendergast said crew members were close to them with food trolleys when “everything just went up”.

"They were beside us when they got injured,” she said, describing cuts and grazes and saying that others in the vicinity were also hurt.

Ambulances at the scene of an emergency on board a Qatar airways flight at Dublin Airport on Sunday. Picture: Damien Storan.

“All we could do was hug each other, but the staff just continued on. They had to pull themselves together and just help everybody. They were amazing.” The flight fell very silent after the turbulence, apart from the sound of people crying and others reassuring fellow passengers.

“The biggest delay then was, who was going to make the first move to go to the loo?” Ms Prendergast added.

Passengers thought they may have to land in Istanbul, but the flight progressed on towards Dublin, leaving her family with a trip back to Galway by road on Sunday evening.

“We’ll get there,” she added.

It is the second severe incident of turbulence to hit an international flight, coming a week after a passenger died and dozens were injured when a Singapore Airlines plane hit turbulence.

The 73-year-old British man suffered a suspected heart attack during the turbulence.

DAA said that flight DR017 from Doha landed safely after the incident.

"Upon landing, the aircraft was met by emergency services, including Airport Police and our Fire and Rescue department, due to 6 passengers and 6 crew [12 total] on board reporting injuries after the aircraft experienced turbulence while airborne over Turkey," it said.

"Eight passengers were subsequently taken to hospital."

The Qatar Airways return flight to Doha took off just before 4pm on Sunday, almost an hour later than scheduled.

DAA added that flight operations at the airport were unaffected and continued as normal.

In a statement Qatar Airways said that “a small number of passengers and crew sustained minor injuries in flight and are now receiving medical attention”, adding: “The matter is now subject to an internal investigation.” 

 Turbulence is often experienced as the sudden jolting of an aircraft and causing changes in height and is associated with weather features such as fronts and thunderstorms. It is the “irregular motion of the air” resulting or whirls of air going up and down.