Thirty people are being treated for non-life-threatening injuries after their flight was hit with strong turbulence prior to landing in New York. The flight landed safely at New York’s Kennedy International Airport on Saturday afternoon.
The New York City fire department tweeted about the incident just before 7:30 p.m. Saturday, saying emergency medical personnel and the city’s Port Authority were on scene at John F. Kennedy International Airport.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement to ABC News that a Turkish Airlines Boeing 777 landed safely at 5:35 p.m., after declaring an emergency and reporting that several passengers were injured due to turbulence. The flight was headed to New York from Istanbul.
Spokesman Steve Coleman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey told The Associated Press that 28 people were taken to a Jamaica Hospital after the plane landed at 5:35 p.m. Two people were taken to Queens Hospital Medical Center. One had a broken leg and others suffered bumps, bruises and cuts.
WATCH: People transported to hospital after Turkey to New York plane experiences severe turbulence
Coleman said most of the passengers and some crew members were treated inside an airport terminal.
Turkish Airlines Flight 1 encountered the turbulence about 45 minutes before landing at JFK, Coleman said.
The plane was carrying more than 300 passengers and crew members.
It was the second safety incident at a New York-area airport on Saturday. Earlier, an Air Transat flight from Montreal made an emergency landing at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey over reports of smoke in the cargo hold.
Runways were shut down for more than half an hour.
–With files from the Associated Press.
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