When the seat belt sign is on, wear your seat belt. When the seat belt sign is off, but you’re in your seat wear your seat belt.

Yesterday’s Aerolineas Argentinas flight AR1303 from Miami to Buenos Aires provided a strong reminder of this important lesson. Our of 192 passengers on board 15 were injured in turbulence after the plane reached cruising altitude, including 8 who were taken to the hospital on arrival in Buenos Aires.

Here’s what the cabin looked like:

Turbulencia severa provoca 15 heridos en un vuelo de Aerolíneas Argentinas https://t.co/KlBPUwexIy pic.twitter.com/4v9jUPqqFR

— Mariana Alfaro (@marianalfaro) October 19, 2018

And here’s an image from the galley:

Credit: @serdominguez

In addition to passenger injuries the aircraft suffered damage as well.

Credit: @serdominguez

Here’s video of the aftermath inside the cabin. There appears to be a blood-stained towel at the outset of the footage, followed by a flight attendant working to clean up the aisle.

Accidente en vuelo de @Aerolineas_AR @todonoticias @pviloutaoficial @edufeiok @fernandocarnota pic.twitter.com/6HLFLYrg5V

— sergio!!! (@serdominguez) October 19, 2018

According to the airline,

The incident occurred in the flight phase called ‘cruise’ and was immediately reported by the commander in charge of the aircraft.

The company arranged its medical equipment at the arrival of the flight to assist those passengers who suffered blows or bruises due to the sudden movements that this type of atmospheric conditions cause.

Once the turbulence zone was crossed, the crew in charge of the flight dedicated to assist the injured passengers and to relieve the general condition of the 192 passengers.

…Upon arrival, the medical assistance teams carried out the corresponding health care and applied the necessary care to each of the affected persons.

In the same way, those responsible for human factors of Aerolineas Argentinas were present to provide containment and meet the particular needs of passengers.

I’m genuinely surprised the aircraft did not divert to address the medical needs of passengers who were injured.