Severe Turbulence Injures Seven, Forces Plane To Make Emergency Landing

Seven people were injured when a United Airlines flight encountered severe turbulence on Wednesday (August 28). Flight 1196 from Cancun, Mexico, to Chicago, Illinois, was flying over Louisiana when it hit the turbulence. There were 172 passengers and seven crew members on board.

Due to the turbulence, the pilot was forced to divert the Boeing 737 and make an emergency landing in Memphis, Tennessee.

United Airlines said that "paramedics met the aircraft at the gate and transported one passenger to the hospital ." The other six injured passengers declined medical treatment.

The flight then continued on to O'Hare International Airport, where it landed about two hours behind schedule.

While injuries from turbulence are rare, there has been an uptick in the number of incidents in recent years. In May, one person was killed, and 30 others were injured after a flight from Singapore to London experienced extreme turbulence. In July, a flight from Spain to Uraguay hit turbulence so intense that it sent a passenger flying into the overhead bin .