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A dog was on the Lufthansa flight that made an emergency landing, and it took hours before the owner learned the pup was fine.
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Garrett Stuteville told Insider that he couldn’t contact anyone about his pet dog. Lufthansa later confirmed that the dog was not injured.
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Seven injured people were taken to hospital after the plane hit severe turbulence.
A dog was on the Lufthansa flight from Austin, Texas to Frankfurt, Germany, which was forced to make an emergency landing in Washington, DC, after encountering severe turbulence that injured seven people.
It took hours for the dog’s owner to learn that the pup was fine.
Garrett Stuteville, who lives in Singapore, told Insider his dog was traveling from Texas to Singapore and had to stop over in Frankfurt so he could get out of his crate for a few hours.
But after the plane landed at Dulles Airport, Stuteville said he hadn’t heard from the airline or the airport to find out how his dog was doing.
“All we know is that he’s still locked in the cage which is now over 10 hours long. And we don’t know when the flight is supposed to leave. We’ve been told he can’t get out out of the cage because of ‘TSA screening rules. We just want to know he’s okay from someone who’s there,” Stuteville told Insider.
He added that he and his wife had hired a company in the United States to “manage the transport process” to bring their dog from the United States to Singapore. The agent they hired was able to get in touch with Lufthansa agents in Germany, Stuteville said, but no Washington, DC representative was in contact.
Lufthansa later told Insider the dog was unharmed and flying to Singapore.
About 22 hours after the flight landed in Dulles, Stuteville confirmed to Insider that her dog was unharmed.
“He was picked up by the Lufthansa ground crew at Dulles Airport, we got some photos and he is doing great,” he said.
Lufthansa Flight 469 was forced to land at Dulles International Airport around 9:10 p.m., according to the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority.
The flight experienced “brief severe turbulence” about 90 minutes into its route, prompting the emergency landing, according to a Lufthansa spokesperson.
“This was a so-called clear air turbulence, which can occur without visible weather phenomena or prior warning,” the spokesperson said.
They added that some passengers suffered “minor injuries” during the turbulent period and received treatment on board.
But according to the statement from the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, at least seven people were injured and hospitalized due to the turbulence.
A man who said his wife was in theft posted a photo on Twitter of the plane after the emergency landing, showing a mess of trash cans and food trays strewn along the plane’s aisle. He said the pilot told the passengers that lightning had struck the plane.
Another passenger told the Washington Post that the plane went into “freefall” as flight attendants handed out dinner.
The FAA said in a statement to Insider that it would investigate what happened.
March 2, 2023, 9:20 p.m. EST: This story has been updated with additional commentary from Garrett Stuteville.
Read the original Insider article