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People on board the Latam flight that experienced a sudden loss of altitude saw passengers flying through the cabin and others covered in blood after the terrifying incident.��

A technical failure����is believed to have caused the plane to plunge and prompted a major emergency service response to the airport yesterday.��

Fifty people were treated by St John at the scene once the plane touched down, and 13 required further treatment at hospital.��

Latam said in a statement this morning the cause of the incident, which the airline described as a “strong shake”, was currently under investigation.��

Latam released new details on the passengers injured during the flight, saying they were from five different countries.��

Ten passengers from Brazil, France, Australia, Chile, and New Zealand, as well as three cabin crew members were taken to hospital.��

Health NZ Te Whatu Ora said five people are still in hospital this morning - four at Middlemore Hospital and one at Auckland City - and are all in a stable condition.��

Auckland-based passenger Lucas Ellwood saw three men “flying in the air” when the sudden drop occurred and saw a number of his fellow passengers in “immense distress”.��

“A man was in the toilet when the jolt happened, he came out of the bathroom with blood streaming down one side of his face.”��

Ellwood, who was flying home from a large family reunion, was wearing his seatbelt and didn’t suffer any injuries.��

“It’s validated my belief in seatbelts,” he said.��

Ellwood described the response by the crew as “adequate”, but he said there was an “extended period of time with no communications or first aid response other than ice”.��

“We were all praying for the pilots,” Ellwood said.��

In the aftermath of the mid-air scare, a pilot inspecting the cabin told passengers his instrument panel went blank briefly, before it all came back.��

An ambulance leaving Auckland International Airport after passengers were injured during a Latam flight from Sydney to Auckland this afternoon. Photo / Dean Purcell��

Another passenger on the flight, Priscilla Waller-Subritzky, told the��Herald��she was watching a movie when the plane lost altitude and “a number of passengers and crew were thrown into the roof of the plane”.��

The incident occurred with about an hour left in the flight yesterday.��

“I went into fight mode and just started jumping in and helping where I could because the crew were injured so couldn’t help.”��

Waller-Subritzky said once the adrenaline wore off, she experienced a lot of pain and headed for the emergency department.��

“I’ve been on plenty of flights before but that was completely out the gate.”��

Fourteen Hato Hone St John units rushed to the airport yesterday afternoon after they were notified at 3.58pm of an incident on board the flight.��

St John crews treated about 50 patients, with one patient in a serious condition and the remainder in a moderate to minor condition. Ten patients were transported to Middlemore Hospital, one to Auckland City Hospital and another to Starship Hospital.��

Seven ambulances, two operations managers, two major incident support team vehicles, one command unit and two rapid response vehicles attended the scene.��

An ambulance at Auckland International Airport after passengers were injured during a Latam flight from Sydney. Photo / Dean Purcell��

Another passenger told the��Herald��he had never experienced anything like that in 15 years of flying.��

“The plane dipped so dramatically into a nose dive for a couple of seconds and around 30 people hit the ceiling hard,” said Daniel.��

Daniel, who was travelling from London, said passengers were screaming and it was hard to tell if there was red wine or blood splattered throughout the plane.��

“None of us knew what had happened until after the flight, I was just trying to keep everyone calm. We never heard any announcement from the captain.”��

He had a sleepless night “tossing and turning” after the terrifying experience and hasn’t had any communication for Latam overnight.��

Video obtained by the��Herald��shows multiple distressed passengers holding their heads after the incident.��

Approximately 50 patients have been treated by ambulance crews and 13 were transported to Middlemore Hospital. Photo / Dean Purcell��

A Latam Airlines spokesperson said three cabin crew members had been taken to Middlemore Hospital for medical checks, with no serious injuries reported.��

“Latam deeply regrets any inconvenience and discomfort this situation may have caused its passengers, and reiterates its commitment to safety as a priority within the framework of its operational standards.”��

A connecting flight which was bound for Santiago, Chile had been rescheduled for tomorrow and affected passengers were being provided with food and accommodation services.��

An Auckland Airport spokesperson said its emergency service team were assisting St John after a request for medical support from a Latam Airlines flight from Sydney.��

Additional ambulances were also responding to the incident.��

Police said they were aware of the incident and referred all other inquiries to St John.��

‘It was like��The Exorcist’��

Brian Jokat told��RNZ��the plane “just dropped” about two-thirds of the way through the flight.��

“There was no pre-turbulence, we were just sailing smoothly the whole way,” he said.��

“I had just dozed off and I luckily had my seatbelt on, and all of a sudden the plane just dropped.��

“It wasn’t one of those things where you hit turbulence and you drop a few times ... we just dropped.”��

A passenger two seats away from him was not wearing his seatbelt, and flew up and hit the ceiling, Jokat said.��

“I thought I was dreaming. I opened my eyes and he was on the roof of the plane on his back, looking down on me. It was like��The Exorcist.”��

The man then fell back to the floor, breaking his ribs on his arm rest, Jokat said.��

Three or four other people had hit the ceiling too, breaking some of the plane’s interior with their heads and shoulders, he said.��

“Then people just started screaming. I felt the plane take a nosedive - it felt like it was at the top of a rollercoaster, and then it flattened out again.”��

The incident took “split seconds”, Jokat said.��

Afterwards, a few doctors on board “patched up” the injured, with the assistance of the flight crew.��

There were “some seriously injured people”, he said - some had broken bones, while others had neck and head injuries.��

Jokat said the pilot came to the back of the plane once the plane landed.��

“I asked him ‘what happened?’ and he said to me ‘I lost my instrumentation briefly and then it just came back all of a sudden’.��

“I know he felt really bad for everyone.”��

Another passenger, Valentina, told��RNZ��the plane “just stopped” about 50 minutes out of Auckland.��

“People were flying around and everything was super scary,” she said.��

“Blood was on the ceiling, people [flew] and broke the ceiling of the plane.”��

Valentina said she was “very scared” to get on a flight again.��

She received minor injuries during the ordeal, but had been treated and was doing OK, she said.��

- with RNZ��

Benjamin Plummer is an Auckland-based reporter who covers breaking news. He has worked for the��Herald��since 2022.��