Tokyo-bound Boeing 737-800 drops 26,000 feet in 10 mins, makes emergency landing in Osaka

A Spring Airlines Japan flight from Shanghai to Tokyo plummeted 26,000 feet in 10 minutes, triggering panic mid-air.

The flight JL8696, also listed as IJ004, was en route to Tokyo Narita Airport at the time of the incident, reported the South China Morning Post.

Japan’ Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism said the Boeing 737-800 dropped from 11,000 meters (36,000 feet) to just 3,000 metres (9,800 feet) in under 10 minutes after the flight crew received a cabin pressure alert and declared an emergency, reported The Standard.

The aircraft made an emergency landing at the Kansai International Airport in Osaka. All 191 passengers and crew members onboard survived without physical injuries.

According to an Associated Press report, passengers onboard were worried that the aircraft would crash after the oxygen masks were deployed amid fears of a change in pressure levels. Sudden drop in pressure level could cause some people to lose consciousness.

Soon after landing in Osaka, passengers took to social media to narrate the “life-threatening” incident. A passenger wrote, “My body is still here, but my soul hasn’t caught up. My legs are still shaking. When you face life or death, everything else feels trivial.”

Several social media users claimed that the passengers were kept on board the plane, even after an hour of landing. The airlines has announced to pay each passenger 15,000 yen ($104) following complaints.