Some 17 people remain hospitalized after being injured on a China Eastern Airlines flight Sunday.

A 32-year-old passenger, Yu Tingting, was receiving treatment for a spinal injury and bruises on her right arm at Yunnan Province First People’s Hospital in Kunming. She told Sixth Tone’s sister publication The Paper that the flight was “like a Hollywood disaster movie.”

Around 50 passengers were injured when the airliner, on its way from Paris to Kunming, capital of southwestern Yunnan province, hit extreme turbulence, state broadcaster China Central Television reported. Passengers who were not wearing their safety belts were launched out of their seats, and others were hurt by baggage falling out of the overhead compartments.

The turbulence occurred at around 3:00 a.m. on Sunday. The cabin lights had been switched off, the flight crew was resting, and most of the passengers were sound asleep. Yu was awoken by her crying 7-month-old daughter — she was about to feed her when she felt a sudden jolt. She couldn’t put on her seat belt in time, and was thrown out of her chair, causing Yu and her daughter to hit their heads against the overhead panel. They landed in the aisle.

As the cabin filled with screams, Yu recalled, she was told by other passengers to grab onto her seat. “I was holding my child in my arms, so I couldn’t reach at all,” Yu said. When she tried to stand up, she and her daughter were thrown back down. “After feeling the weightlessness, I couldn’t move. My back was in pain,” Yu said. “Everyone was afraid, and no one dared to unfasten their safety belts to rescue me.”

The turbulence lasted several minutes, Yu estimated. Afterward, she noticed her daughter had a bump on her head. Another passenger’s face was covered in blood after being thrown into an emergency exit light. A few disoriented passengers were looking for their glasses or shoes. Many couldn’t stop crying.

As stewardesses rushed to give first-aid to passengers, a message on the intercom called for anyone who was a doctor or nurse to assist the injured. The overhead luggage bins had cracks in them where people had hit their heads.

Among the more seriously injured were many elderly, including a 77-year-old passenger who hurt her neck and a 67-year-old man who fractured his shoulder, state news agency Xinhua reported on Sunday.

About five hours later, the airplane arrived in Kunming. “After landing safely, the cabin filled with applause,” Yu said. “It was very emotional.”

China Eastern has issued a statement acknowledging that the flight “suddenly encountered turbulence” and that “some passengers on the plane experienced discomfort.” The airline said it could not immediately comment when reached by Sixth Tone on Tuesday.

The turbulent flight was the third incident this month involving China Eastern. On June 11, a flight from Sydney to Shanghai was forced to make an emergency landing due to a huge hole in its engine cover. On the same day, a golden retriever was discovered dead after a domestic flight, the wires of its cage bent and disfigured.

Editor: Kevin Schoenmakers.

(Header image: Ambulances and a rescue team wait outside a China Eastern aircraft after Flight MU774 landed at Changshui International Airport in Kunming, Yunnan province, June 18, 2017. Courtesy of Yu Tingting’s mother)