By Andrew Jeong
Eleven people that were on a Delta Air Lines flight from Milan to Atlanta on Tuesday were sent to the hospital after "severe turbulence" during the flight, the airline said.
"Our priority is taking care of our customers and crew who sustained injuries," Delta said in an emailed statement after the plane landed safely at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
"We are grateful for the first responders who met the aircraft to provide medical attention and who are transporting the injured to the hospital," it said.
The Airbus A350-900 that took off from Milan was carrying 151 passengers, 10 flight attendants and four pilots.
Crew members and passengers are among the injured.
Delta officials are providing accommodation and food to passengers and rebooking flights.
Scientists believe that clear-air turbulence will increase over time as a result of climate change.
According to Isabel Smith, a turbulence researcher at the University of Reading’s Department of Meteorology, while there have been some high-profile and concerning stories about aircrafts encountering turbulence incidents in the US recently, extreme turbulence is still very rare.
In March this year, Lufthansa Flight 469 from Austin, Texas, to Frankfurt, Germany, experienced "severe turbulence" and had to make an unplanned landing at Dulles International Airport outside Washington DC.