Flight to Philadelphia encounters 'severe’ turbulence, 10 hurt

An Americans Airlines flight from Greece to Philadelphia encountered "severe turbulence" shortly before landing Saturday that was so violent 10 people were taken to a local hospital for evaluation, the airline said.

"I was looking forward and I just saw everything just move upwards about four feet," passenger Alex Ehmke said in a phone interview with NBC News. "So, I saw drinks, you know, flying up against walls and up on the ceiling."

"The gentleman directly behind us and diagonally behind us hit the ceiling himself," he said.

The airline said that three passengers and seven crew members were transported to a hospital after the Flight 759 landed at Philadelphia International Airport. The seatbelt sign was on when the aircraft hit the turbulence, it said.

"We are taking care of our passengers and our crew members at this time and want to thank our team members for keeping our passengers safe," the airline said in a statement. The flight landed safely at 3:10 p.m., NBC Philadelphia reported.

Ehmke said he saw a flight attendant with what appeared to be a makeshift sling around his arm and two passengers left with what looked like ice packs on their heads. Ehmke, a 26-year-old lawyer returning from Greece after a family vacation, was not hurt.

"I was just thankful to get on the ground," he said. "When you put your feet on the gate and you get to walk away — I mean, it just, it was such a feeling of relief and so I'm just thankful that you know it wasn't worse than it was."

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