India’s SpiceJet under investigation after severe turbulence injures passengers

Indian low-cost airline SpiceJet is under government scrutiny following an incident in which a plane’s autopilot malfunctioned, causing severe turbulence and multiple onboard injuries.

News18 reports that the autopilot function on the B737-800 aircraft stopped working for two minutes mid-flight, resulting in the crew manually flying the plane until it recovered.

As a result, the aircraft experienced dramatic turbulence, which caused some overhead bins to open, items to spill out across the plane and emergency oxygen masks to drop. Fifteen people — 12 passengers and three crew members — were hospitalized after the plane landed at Durgapur’s Kazi Nazrul Islam Airport

The DGCA has taken swift measures regarding the incident. The plane itself has been grounded in Kolkata to be examined. In addition, the agency benched several crew members from the flight and the Aviation Medical Examiner (AME) in Durgapur who allowed the aircraft to leave after the incident.

News18 confirmed that two of the passengers are still hospitalized in critical condition, one for a head injury and the other for a spinal injury.