Severe turbulence made an airplane make an emergency landing on Monday. Nearly 40 people were injured on the Air Europa plane from Spain to Uruguay. Turbulence hit the plane over the Atlantic. Air traffic controllers told the pilot to make an emergency landing in north-eastern Brazil. Many of the injured went to hospital in Brazil. Others went to Uruguay's capital city Montevideo by bus. A new Air Europa plane flew passengers who did not take the bus to their final destination. The turbulence is the latest in a number of mid-air occurrences that have injured people.

Turbulence is the violent movement of air. Modern aircraft can survive dangerous winds and pockets of air. It is very rare for turbulence to cause a plane to crash. The biggest danger to passengers comes from not wearing a seat belt. Anyone not wearing a seat belt can be thrown around the cabin. They can suffer injuries by hitting their head on overhead lockers. Scientists from a UK university reported that climate change is making severe turbulence worse. They said incidents increased by 55 per cent between 1979 and 2020.