Dramatic moment passenger is removed from overhead bin after turbulence injured 30 and forced plane to make landing during transatlantic flight

This is the moment a passenger is pulled from the overhead bin after an Air Europa flight encountered severe turbulence.

The shocking mobile phone footage shows the man’s feet dangling from the plane as he is helped to the ground by two passengers. Flight UX045, flying from Madrid, Spain to Montevideo, Uruguay, was diverted and made an emergency landing in Natal, Brazil on Monday.

A two-year-old child was also pulled from the ceiling of the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner after the turbulence passed.

The incident left 30 passengers with head, facial and spinal injuries. At least 23 passengers were rushed to Monsenhor Walfredo Gurgel Hospital.

Doctor Cecília Lagucci, a Bolivian, was traveling with her husband and two children. Her two-year-old son was thrown from his seat by the violent movements of the plane and got stuck in the ceiling.

Passengers rushed to help another passenger who was thrown from his seat and into the plane’s baggage compartment

“My husband and I were looking for the little one, who is 2 years old,” said Dr. Lagucci, quoted by Brazilian news outlet G1. “And we found him above the suitcases. Part of the plane collapsed and the child was up there crying. My husband had to bring him back down.”

Lagucci remembers waking up to find himself upside down when the Air Europa plane, carrying 325 passengers, hit turbulence.

“People were flying over me. I couldn’t get up,” she said. “I felt the plane falling and I thought, ‘It’s going to stabilize now.’ But then it just kept falling and falling. Until they stabilized the plane and I was able to get up.”

CCTV footage shows parts of the plane’s ceiling panels torn off, oxygen masks dangling above passenger seats and at least one seat completely damaged.

Air Europa flight UX045 from Madrid, Spain to Montevideo, Uruguay, was diverted to Natal, Brazil on Monday after encountering severe turbulence, injuring 30 passengers.

The passengers are expected to board another Air Europa plane on Monday afternoon to continue their journey to Montevideo.

A male passenger is helped from the overhead bin after being thrown from his seat following turbulence on an Air Europa flight from Spain to Uruguay

Air Europa posted a statement on X on Monday morning saying that a new plane had departed Madrid and that passengers would be taken by bus from Natal to Recife before flying to Montevideo.

“We inform that our customers are moving to Recife, where they will stay and then continue to Montevideo. Natal was the airport that could serve the passengers with medical needs the fastest,” the airline said. “Since it is not an AirEuropa destination, company personnel also travel to Natal and Recife to provide a better service to our customers.

“All people requiring medical attention are being treated at centres in Natal. Passengers are being informed with updated information on this operation. We will update with more information.”

Norys, a Venezuelan passenger living in Uruguay, told Uruguayan newspaper El Observador that the captain had advised passengers and crew to fasten their seat belts because the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner was about to encounter turbulence.

“A long time later there was a very light turbulence, which was barely noticeable, and then suddenly the plane crashed and we all took off,” Norys said.

“Those who didn’t have their seat belts on flew and some of them got stuck on the ceiling. It lasted about 3.5 seconds.”

Oxygen masks were spotted on the plane after an Air Europa flight encountered turbulence while flying from Madrid, Spain to Montevideo, Uruguay early Monday morning

First responders treated passengers on Air Europa flight UX045 at Governador Aluízio Alves International Airport early Monday morning

A seat on Air Europa flight UX045 was seriously damaged due to turbulence

Passengers disembark Air Europa flight UX045 in Natal, Brazil after emergency landing Monday

She remembers that the injured passengers had to wait on the floor of the plane for three hours before being taken away.

Juan, an Argentine lawyer returning to his home in Uruguay after a 40-day trip for pleasure and business, said the captain told him the plane was 1,640 feet high.

The feeling was fear, the feeling that you are falling and it doesn’t stop. And you are aware that you are falling at an unpredictable speed,’ Juan said.

“And you felt that it stopped there, that you died,” he added. “(That was) until we saw on the screen that the plane started to climb.”

It was the second incident at Air Europa in less than 24 hours, after a flight from Madrid to Tel Aviv was diverted to Rome.

According to AirNav RadarBox, a real-time flight tracking system, the captain declared an emergency after flight UX1301 entered Italian airspace while the Boeing 787-9 aircraft was descending from 37,000 feet.

DailyMail.com has reached out to Air Europa for comment.