KUALA LUMPUR – A Korean Air Boeing 737 plane heading to Taiwan from Seoul on Saturday dropped over 6,000m mid-air due to an error with the aircraft’s pressurisation system.
The incident involved flight KE 189, which turned back to land safely at Incheon International Airport.
However, passengers reported that they suffered from nosebleeds and ear pain, resulting in 13 hospitalised.
The plane experienced a sudden drop 50 minutes after takeoff while flying over Jeju Island which was caused by a malfunction in the plane’s pressurisation system, Korea JoongAng Daily reported.
After the cabin pressure system failed, the aircraft with 125 passengers plummeted from 30,000ft to around 9,000ft.
The plane, a Boeing 737 Max 8, landed at Incheon about three hours after takeoff.
Korea’s Land, Infrastructure and Transportation Ministry confirmed that 15 passengers suffered from hyperventilation or pain in their eardrums, and 13 were sent to the hospital.
No other major injuries were reported.
The flight resumed, but with a different aircraft on Sunday. Meanwhile, Korean Air is investigating the issue and inspecting the plane.
Yesterday, a Boeing 777 was forced to return to Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport due to an unspecified technical problem.
The KLM flight was headed for Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and turned around over Belgium about 40 minutes after takeoff with a request to land.
Last week, a Boeing 737-800 used by Malaysia Airlines turned back and did an emergency landing in Hyderabad after its right engine caught fire mid-air.
The United States aviation giant has been facing public pressure over safety issues since the 2018 and 2019 air crashes of its 737 MAX aircraft on Indonesia’s Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines.
In January, a door plug ripped off in mid-air on an Alaska Airlines 737 Max-9 flight.
Boeing chief executive officer David Calhoun announced in March that he would step down at the end of this year. – June 24, 2024