25 Hurt as Crazy Turbulence Hurls Fliers to Ceiling

A flight bound for Hong Kong today offers a pretty good argument for wearing your seatbelt. Some 25 passengers on a South African Airways jet from Johannesburg were hurt amid some serious turbulence, the South China Morning Post reports. The shaking was so strong that "most of the injured hit their heads on the roof of the cabin," one passenger says. The turbulence came on suddenly, the paper notes; officials say it occurred over Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the AP reports.

Two people on the A340 aircraft were seriously hurt, and 20 were hospitalized; there were 165 passengers on the plane, per the AP. Emergency crews met the plane when it landed at Hong Kong's Chek Lap Kok Airport. Those hurt were mostly sitting in the rear, says another passenger, who had praise for the crew: "A lot of the passengers were scared, but generally speaking the crew had it under control and the landing was very good." A business traveler wasn't so sure: "It was like the end of the world," he says. (More South African Airways stories.)