Advertisement

Passengers 'happy to be alive' after plane starts to fall from sky off Florida coast

By Allen Cone

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., May 6 (UPI) -- An Allegiant Air jet made an emergency landing after severe turbulence injured three passengers and four flight attendants, an ordeal that passengers called terrifying.

Allegiant Flight 7001 from Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic to Pittsburgh was diverted to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on Thursday afternoon.

Advertisement

"I thought, 'the plane's going down, and I'm going to die.' It was like the plane's falling out of the sky," Malachi Witt said in a phone interview with Pittsburgh Trib Live from Florida.

Witt, 34, a software engineer, was vacationing with his wife, Erica Larsen, 34. They were among the 137 passengers and crew of six aboard the flight, airline officials said.

Witt said he has no plans to fly on a plane again anytime soon. He rented a car to visit friends in Orlando and then will drive to Pittsburgh.

Several passengers returned to Pittsburgh International Airport on the same plane that arrived about 11 p.m. Thursday.

"It was an experience, I tell you," Gisela Arrow, 72, said. "I'm so happy to be alive. I've been on many flights. This was unreal."

Advertisement

The Broward County Sheriff's Office said seven people were taken to hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries.

"The injuries range from bruises, lacerations, facial fractures, to a head injury. Of the seven injured, none were life threatening," said Mike Jachles of the sheriff's Department of Fire Rescue.

Allegiant officials said the crew experienced severe turbulence about 240 miles southeast of Nassau, Bahamas, at an altitude of 36,000 feet.

The Airbus A319, chartered by Las Vegas-based Allegiant, was operated on behalf of Apple Vacation.

Latest Headlines