A Boeing passenger plane plummeted more than 25,000 feet in just 10 minutes — leaving some of the nearly 200 onboard unconscious, and others sending heart-wrenching goodbyes to their loved ones.
The Spring Airlines Japan flight from Shanghai to Tokyo on Monday night was cruising at 36,000 feet with 191 passengers and crew when it suddenly dropped to just under 10,500 feet, according to officials, blaming an unspecified mechanical issue.
Terrifying footage shows panicked passengers clutching their oxygen masks — as some even lost consciousness.
“I heard a muffled boom and the oxygen mask fell off in a few seconds. The stewardess cried and shouted to put on the oxygen mask, saying the plane had a malfunction,” one passenger said.
Another passenger recalled being on “the verge of tears” as they wrote their will and the details of their life insurance and bank card PINs, thinking they were facing certain death.
An alert indicating an abnormality in cabin pressure was triggered amid the ascent, Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism said.
The flight, which had taken off from Shanghai Pudong Airport on Monday, was forced to make an emergency landing at Kansai International Airport in Osaka, Japan.
