A Japanese airline passenger suffered a broken rib during a bizarre incident on board a domestic flight despite wearing a seat belt. Turbulence arose shortly before landing.
Details of the crash on board an Airbus A320 operated by hybrid airline Starflyer were recently released in an investigation report by the Japan Transportation Safety Board.
The aircraft was on a short flight between Tokyo’s Haneda Airport and Kitakyushu in Fukuoka Prefecture when it encountered turbulence on the final approach. During the incident, the aircraft rocked from side to side, causing one of the passengers sitting in the rear of the aircraft to be pressed into the armrest.
The victim told investigators that he immediately felt pain in the right side of his body, and since the pain did not go away, after a few days he decided to go to the hospital for an examination. Doctors discovered that the passenger suffered a broken rib due to an external impact.
Japanese accident investigators say they have already interviewed everyone involved in the accident and analyzed the weather conditions that day.
Now the investigation will focus on the leading cause of the incident, and whether there was an opportunity to avoid injuries.
Despite the bizarre nature of this accident, the vast majority of injuries sustained by passengers and crew from turbulence are due to not wearing their seat belts.
Last Sunday, 36 passengers were injured when a Hawaiian Airlines flight from Phoenix to Honolulu entered an area of severe turbulence. 11 of these injuries were considered serious, and 20 passengers and crew had to be taken to hospital for further treatment.
Most of the victims at the time of the accident were not wearing seat belts, even though at the time the “fasten seat belts” sign was on. Some were thrown into the air, hitting the ceiling, and suffering serious head injuries.
In another incident on Monday, five passengers on a United Airlines flight from Rio de Janeiro to Houston were hospitalized after the plane descended 150 meters in just seconds after the aircraft hit unexpected turbulence.
The threat of unexpected turbulence is the reason why airlines and flight safety experts advise passengers to be seated in their seats, even when the flight is running normally and the “fasten seat belts” sign has gone out.