When turbulence leaves crew in neck braces, 23 in hospital…

A shocking image emerged this week showing how two cabin crewmembers were left in neck braces after a flight hit severe turbulence last Saturday.

One of the crewmembers has blood on her shirt and was pictured separately with a huge gash on her forehead, before plasters were applied.

The severe turbulence rocked the Avianca Airbus they were on, flying from Lima in Peru to Buenos Aires in Argentina, at around 41,000ft and left 23 passengers and cabin crewmembers injured. One flier claimed it was “a miracle that passengers survived”.

The image of the two flight attendants, sitting at the back of the aircraft, was posted to Twitter shortly after the plane landed.

Other images of the aftermath uploaded to the Internet show injured people standing by their seats, oxygen masks hanging from the ceiling and snapped and dented panels.

Another photograph that was shared shows food strewn over the floor, along with a bloodied tissue.

According to the Aviation Herald, the flight continued to Buenos Aires and landed safely about 80 minutes later.

Despite having damaged ceiling panels, the aircraft departed on a return flight six hours later.

According to a press release from Avianca the plane suffered “from strong unexpected turbulence when passing over the Andes Mountain range around 1.11am”.

As it passed through a stretch of bad weather, the sudden jerks of the N279AV aircraft surprised those on board, including crew who were reportedly not wearing their safety belts at the time.

Although reports from the airport confirmed that 23 people received medical attention upon arrival, the airline detailed in its communication that 12 people were injured during the flight.

According to the airline, eight crewmembers and four passengers received knocks and injuries during the turbulence.

Concerning those injured, Avianca commented: “10 people were admitted to hospital for their respective checks. Six of them have already been released with the all clear and the four remaining, all crew members, continue to receive medical attention at the clinic.”

One witness recalled how a passenger was jerked upwards and slammed their head, breaking a piece of plastic in the plane.

Speaking to MailOnline previously about what happens to an aircraft during an episode of turbulence, Patrick Smith, an active airline pilot and author, said: “During turbulence, the pilots are not fighting the controls. Planes are designed with what we call positive stability, meaning that when nudged from their original point in space, by their nature they wish to return there.

“The best way of handling rough air is to effectively ride it out, hands-off. (Some autopilots have a turbulence mode that desensitizes the system, to avoid over-controlling.) It can be uncomfortable, but the jet is not going to flip upside down.

“For what it’s worth, thinking back over the whole history of modern commercial aviation, I cannot recall a single jetliner crash caused by turbulence, strictly speaking.

“Airplanes are engineered to withstand an extreme amount of stress, and the amount of turbulence required to, for instance, tear off a wing, is far beyond anything you’ll ever experience.”

One passenger, Alejandro Babato, said: “Nobody from Avianca was there to meet us when we arrived in Ezeiza to see how we were. It was a miracle we survived.”

An Avianca spokesman said: “We lament the incident and will remain in contact to monitor the state of those passengers affected.”

The incident follows a flight carrying 378 passengers and crewmembers encountering severe turbulence on a journey from London to Kuala Lumpur – leaving some of those on board injured.

Malaysia Airlines flight MH1 experienced ‘”a brief moment of severe turbulence” over the Bay of Bengal on Sunday, the airline said in a statement.

Photos shared across social media showed toppled food carts, food strewn all over the aisle and cracks in overhead passenger units.

At the beginning of May, meanwhile, terrifying video footage emerged of passengers on a packed plane praying and wailing as severe turbulence rocked it from side to side.

Thirty-one passengers and a crewmember aboard an Etihad Airways flight from Abu Dhabi were injured when their plane suddenly hit turbulence as it prepared to land in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta.

And in a chilling video, people on board are seen with their hands in the air, seemingly praying that they survive the incident around 45 minutes before it landed at Soekarno Hatta International Airport.