A Chilean-Brazilian carrier, Latham Airline Boeing 787 Dreamliner scheduled to fly from Sydney to Auckland to Santiago, the capital of Chile, lost altitude about two hours into the three-hour flight  between two cities as people hit the roof of the plane throwing some out of their seats. Fifty were hurt and 12 were taken to hospital on landing safely in Auckland. Emergency services said one person was in serious condition. Latham Airlines said it “deeply regretted any inconvenience and discomfort this situation may have caused its passengers”.

According to a passenger people had hit the ceiling with such force “some of the roof panels were broken while others had been thrown down the aisles after the plane dropped unlike anything I had experience force. There was blood coming from several people’s heads and people were yelling and screaming and it was chaos. Some were not wearing their seatbelts. The technical event during the flight had caused a strong movement”.

The departure from Auckland to Chile was cancelled and a new flight scheduled for Tuesday.