ABC
So, it wasn’t just one transatlantic passenger who found himself stuck in the ceiling of a Boeing en route to Uruguay earlier this week – a toddler got stuck up there as well.
Passenger Dr. Cecilia Laguzzi says it’s an image she’ll never forget … she found her 2-year-old son lodged in the ceiling above the overhead compartment on Monday’s Air Europa flight UX045 from Madrid to Uruguay … after it hit a wild bout of turbulence.
Laguzzi tells “GMA” she woke up to what felt like 6 or 7 seconds of freefall before the plane leveled off. In the chaotic aftermath, she began searching for her kids, who were sleeping a few seats away with her husband, but her youngest was MIA.
She started frantically searching for him — it wasn’t until someone saw her panic and said, “Well, it’s up there,” pointing to the ceiling. That’s when she found her son, crying and clearly terrified, stuck in the overhead compartment.
Luckily, some plastic had broken off from the compartment, so she and her husband were able to retrieve him stat. She said her son seemed fine, and overall, her family was a bit bruised but otherwise OK.
A man on the same flight was lucky to be alive after footage showed fellow passengers helping him down from the overhead after he was flung up there during the turbulence.
The plane was diverted to the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Norte, and the injured passengers were treated at a local hospital.
Goes without saying, Boeing’s been navigating choppy skies lately, from near mishaps to tragic fatalities – like the May death of a man on a Singapore Airlines flight that also unexpectedly hit severe turbulence.