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The accident occurred on China Eastern Airline’s new Kunming to Sydney service, which was launched only last Thursday. File photo: Shutterstock

China Eastern Airlines passengers injured as plane hits turbulence while landing in Sydney

Five people suffer suspected spinal injuries and two others also hurt on board aircraft from Kunming on Tuesday afternoon

Seven passengers suffered injuries requiring hospital treatment when a China Eastern Airlines aircraft was hit by serious turbulence just as it was landing at Sydney Airport on Tuesday afternoon, mainland media reported.

Flight MU777, which had departed from Kunming on Tuesday morning, had “encountered terrible turbulence while landing” at about 2.30pm, China Central Television reported.

Five passengers who suffered suspected spinal injuries were among seven people who needed hospital treatment following the landing, the International Business Times’s Australian edition reported.

Two elderly people were among the injured people being treated in hospital, the newspaper said.

The Kunming to Sydney route was launched by the airline only last Thursday.

On Monday night China Eastern Airlines had apologised on its official social media account for a “mistake” over a different matter when it sent a shuttle bus carrying Wuhan-bound passengers to board one of its aircraft heading to Xiamen at the Hongqiao Airport in Shanghai on Sunday.

This had followed an earlier accident at Shanghai’s Pudong Airport on Saturday, reported by mainland media, when a passenger on one of the airline’s shuttle buses was injured and needed hospital treatment after falling when the driver of the vehicle braked suddenly.

It was alleged that the bus had almost collided with an aircraft, but the airline later denied the claim and said that the shuttle bus had been operating in the correct airport lane at a normal speed.

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