The wife of actor Matthew McConaughey said she was aboard the ill-fated Lufthansa flight from Austin, Texas, to Frankfurt, Germany, that was struck by lightning.
The resulting turbulence from the plane’s fall on Wednesday caused seven people to be taken to the hospital after making an emergency landing in Virginia.
“On Flight last night, I was told plane dropped almost 4000 feet, 7 people went to the hospital,” Camila Alves McConaughey wrote on Instagram. “Everything was flying everywhere. To respect the privacy of those around me that’s all I am showing but the plane was a CHAOS And the turbulence keep on coming.”
“The @lufthansa flight you are seeing on the news today!!!! Yes…that one,” she acknowledged. “Thank God everyone was safe and ok. I must say everyone @marriotbonvoy by the airport of Washington where we had to divert to and spend the night was so kind! @officiallymcconaughey and I made it to the bar with 1 minute before closing … slept well, getting on new flight today. To the journey I continue.”
Another passenger aboard the Lufthansa flight told Good Morning America, “I don’t think even any of the people on board — the cabin crew — I don’t think any of them have experienced anything like this. This was shocking. It was kind of like you’re in slow motion. You just see everything — like in a movie where you see everything lift and all of a sudden it just comes right back down.”
Flight LH469 “encountered brief but severe turbulence about 90 minutes after takeoff,” Lufthansa said in a statement, adding that the crew “made an unscheduled landing at Washington Dulles Airport as a precautionary measure.”
Another passenger said the plane went into “free fall,” adding that passengers and food “went flying into the air, hitting and even damaging the ceiling of the plane.” The passenger claimed someone in front of them was “badly hurt” with blood dispersed over their seat.
Another person, whose sister and brother were reportedly on the flight, said her siblings said “it was exceptionally scary, lots of broke [sic] glass and screaming and multiple injuries.”