Chinese flight attendant falls out of stationary plane at Zhengzhou airport, suffers broken bones
Plunge from aircraft while on tarmac is second incident of its kind in China in less than a month
The incident happened at Zhengzhou airport in Henan province as the Xiamen Air Boeing 737 was being restocked, Beijing Youth Daily reported on Saturday.
The woman, who was not identified, was apparently preparing food when she lost her footing and fell through the open cabin door.
The accident was captured on surveillance cameras and the footage was uploaded to the Chinese microblogging service Weibo. The film shows a food trolley sliding out of the door, followed by the unfortunate attendant.
The airline said in a statement on Weibo that the woman fell out of the rear door of the aircraft as it was making a short stop in Zhengzhou. Flight MF8253 was en route from Fuzhou, capital of southeastern China’s Fujian province, to Lanzhou, capital of northwestern Gansu province.
The statement said the woman underwent surgery at a local hospital on Friday night to fix a broken bone in her chest.
Doctors were quoted as saying that she would have to stay in hospital for about a week, but that she had not suffered any permanent damage.
The company said that an investigation was under way, but that it was treating the fall as an accident.
The case was the second of its kind in less than a month.
On October 23, a flight attendant with China Eastern Airlines suffered bone fractures and bruises after falling from the rear door of a stationary aircraft at Shenzhen airport.
She was apparently trying to close the door as the plane was preparing to take off.
