Six people were taken to hospital, and many more were injured after a United Airlines flight from Lagos heading to Washington D.C. experienced a sudden in-flight movement.
The United States has opened a probe into the unexpected movement, as the cause is still unknown.
The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said on Monday it is investigating the flight that left Lagos, Nigeria in the early hours of Friday morning for what is usually a six-hour flight to Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia.
The NTSB said the incident on United Flight 613 occurred as the Boeing 787 was flying in Ivory Coast airspace, whose authorities have delegated the investigation to the NTSB, Reuters reports.
Data from FlightRadar shows the flight leaving Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos at 19 minutes past midnight, and approximately an hour and a half into the flight the plane makes a U-turn over the Ivory Coast and heads back to Nigeria.
The flight then made an emergency landing back in its departure airport in Lagos around three hours after it took off.
Footage on social media shows meal plates and personal items flung onto the floor in the aisle, while passengers can be heard shouting and sounding distressed.
United said in a statement the plane experienced a “technical issue and an unexpected aircraft movement”.
The airline added the plane landed safely in Lagos, where four passengers and two flight attendants were seen in hospital for injuries they sustained, and have since been released.
While the airline described the injuries as “minor”, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (Faan) said the injuries sustained by the six were “serious”. They also added that an additional 27 passengers and five crew members also had minor injuries.
It is unclear what caused the sudden jolt to the plane. United said it was not severe turbulence and that it is “working with aviation authorities in the US and Nigeria to understand the cause”, according to CNN.
The flight was carrying 245 passengers, eight flight attendants and three pilots at the time of the incident.
Faan said that aerodrome rescue and fire fighting services, as well as medical and security personnel, were already at the gate waiting for the plane’s arrival after the pilot reported distress at 1.20am.
It added that the passengers who did not need to be seen in hospital received first aid and were discharged immediately, while some passengers were also taken to a hotel.
The aircraft itself did not sustain any major damage, Faan said.
The Independent has contacted United for comment.
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