MONTREAL — Nearly three dozen passengers sustained minor injuries Thursday when an Air Canada flight travelling from Toronto to Sydney, Australia, ran into severe turbulence, prompting an emergency landing in Honolulu.
The airline says Flight AC33, which made a scheduled stopover in Vancouver Wednesday night, was about two hours past Hawaii over the Pacific Ocean when the conditions triggered a turnaround and resulted in 35 injuries.
The aircraft, a Boeing 777-200, had 269 passengers and 15 crew members on board, some of whom were examined by medical personnel on arrival at Honolulu airport at 12:45 p.m. EST.
Air Canada spokeswoman Isabelle Arthur says its first priority is the safety of passengers and crew.
The carrier says it is arranging hotel accommodations and meals for passengers in Honolulu as well as options for resumption of the flight.