Chilling pictures of the Etihad Airways turbulence incident that injured passengers, broke overhead bins

Indonesian authorities have launched an investigation into an incident involving an Etihad Airways flight EY474 to Jakarta that was caught in severe turbulence resulting in injuries to 31 passengers and crew.

The Airbus A330-200 aircraft, which left Abu Dhabi at 3.20am on Wednesday morning, encountered "severe and unexpected turbulence" about 45 minutes prior to arrival at Soekarno Hatta International Airport. The flight managed to land safely.

Etihad Airways’ President and Chief Executive Officer James Hogan said: “Our pilots and cabin crew are to be commended for the calm and professional manner in which they dealt with this exceptional event, and the care they showed the passengers, despite several being injured themselves. It is testament to the high standard of our crew training that the effects of the turbulence were minimised. At no time was the safety of the aircraft, passengers or crew compromised.”

Etihad said a specialist team from the airline had visited the hospitalized passengers.