Severe Turbulence on Avianca Flight Diverts to Miami International Airport, Injuring Nine

An Avianca flight diverted to Miami early Friday after severe turbulence injured passengers aboard a plane bound for New York. Initial reports said nine people were taken for treatment, while other accounts put the number at eight.

The aircraft had departed Medellín, Colombia, for John F. Kennedy International Airport. It landed safely at Miami International Airport at approximately 3:30 a.m. local time on Friday, October 9, 2026.

The injury count varied across early accounts. Some reported nine people hospitalized; others said eight were transported.

Miami-Dade Fire Rescue said it responded to “multiple patients injured by turbulence.” Emergency crews met the plane, and injured people went by ambulance to Miami-area hospitals.

Passengers saw loose bags and ambulances after a violent cabin jolt

Video from inside the aircraft showed passengers being thrown around and loose carry-on items moving through the cabin. Some people held ice packs to their heads as they were told to keep their seat belts fastened.

Passenger Maria Paula Jimenez described seeing ambulances waiting at the airport. She said:

“Seven of them with their lights on as if they were waiting for something,”

An unidentified woman aboard the plane said she did not want to leave. She also described how the event changed her perspective.

“I don't want to go out. I only want to go back home.”

“What I can tell you is you value your life so much when something like that happens.”

Hospitals treated head and shoulder injuries, while patients’ conditions remained undisclosed

The injured were taken to Miami-area hospitals, including Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center. Hospital officials described moderate-to-severe head and shoulder injuries among people thrown from their seats.

Patients’ overall conditions had not been disclosed. No hospital-by-hospital account of where each injured person was treated had been made public.

The first reports did not establish whether any crew members were among those hurt. They also left unanswered the precise point in the route where the turbulence struck and how long it lasted.

The aircraft’s flight number and the injury count both remain unsettled

Accounts identified the aircraft as either Avianca Flight 042 or Avianca Flight 252. The flight number had not been confirmed by an official statement.

The passenger total also remained unclear. Reports variously counted eight people transported and nine hospitalized or taken to a hospital, without consistently distinguishing those categories.

No injured person was publicly identified by full name, age, occupation or hometown. The reports also did not give the specific disposition of each patient.

The remaining passengers left for JFK at 8:15 a.m.

A spokesperson for the Miami-Dade Aviation Department gave the landing time and said the remaining passengers continued to New York. They departed for JFK at 8:15 a.m.

The spokesperson was not named. Neither a pilot, flight attendant, airline executive nor individual fire-rescue official was identified as having issued a public statement about the incident.

Officials had not attributed the turbulence to weather or a mechanical problem

Weather was present in the area, but officials had not publicly determined whether it caused the turbulence. No public account tied the event to a particular weather system or a mechanical problem.

As of Friday, October 9, 2026, public accounts contained no finding or investigation statement from the Federal Aviation Administration or the National Transportation Safety Board. That does not establish whether either agency opened an inquiry.

The reports did not identify a named official who signed or issued a formal incident document. The timing and location of the turbulence, along with any crew injuries, remained unresolved.