By Heidi Pérez-Moreno
Eight people were hospitalised Monday after a JetBlue flight from Guayaquil, Ecuador, encountered "sudden, severe turbulence" shortly before arriving in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, according to a statement the carrier shared with The Washington Post.
Officials with the airline did not speak to the severity of injuries, which affected seven passengers and one crew member.
The plane landed safely at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, its intended destination, where medical personnel transported people to the hospital.
The aircraft, which flew about four and a half hours from the José Joaquín de Olmedo International Airport, according to FlightAware data, has since been taken out of service for inspection.
The plane arrived in Fort Lauderdale at around 5:24am.
The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are both investigating the incident, according to statements from each organisation.
The FAA describes turbulence as movement of air that usually can't be seen and that often happens unexpectedly.
The National Transportation Safety Board requires airlines to report any injuries that require someone to be hospitalised for more than 48 hours in the week following an incident.
Previous incidents of severe turbulence this year include a Delta Air Lines flight from Milan to Atlanta and a Lufthansa flight headed from Frankfurt, Germany, to Austin.