JetBlue turbulence on Sacramento-bound flight leaves 24 passengers and crew in hospital

Flight to California is forced to land in South Dakota as it encounters bad weather over central plains

A JetBlue flight was forced to land in South Dakota after being buffeted by turbulence (Reuters)

At least 22 passengers and two crew members had to be taken to hospital after a JetBlue flight ran into severe turbulence.

Flight 0429 was flying from Boston to Sacramento, California, when it was forced to land at Rapid City, South Dakota, on Thursday evening.

Passengers described chaotic scenes on board as the plane bucked up and down.

Rhonda Renee told CNN said the turbulence was like a bad dream.

“People were flying out of their seat belts and hitting their head on the ceiling; it was very scary,” she said.

Derek Lindahl said a woman in front of him rose two feet into the air above her seat because she wasn’t strapped in.

“I literally grabbed her out of the air to hold her to the seat,” said Mr Lindahl, a software engineer from Sacramento.

Weather forecasters said the turbulence was the result of a front and its associated bad weather moving across the central plains.

Casey Corcoran, who was travelling with two young children, told WCVB: “It was almost like a bang, like we hit a wall and just dropped straight down.

“There was stuff in the aisles, you had people crying.”

The plane made a safe landing at about 7.30pm and the passengers were taken to hospital for check-ups before being released.

In a statement, JetBlue said the passengers were being transferred to another plane to continue their journey.

“JetBlue care team members are being sent to assist injured customers, and a replacement aircraft is en route to Rapid City for customers continuing on to Sacramento,” it said.

Earlier this year a United Nations report predicted that climate change would increase incidents of turbulence, as well as engine-threatening dust storms.