Turkish Airlines flight experiences severe turbulence, passengers scream in terror
What's the story
A Turkish Airlines flight from Istanbul to Tunisia experienced severe turbulence during its descent on Thursday. The incident occurred as the aircraft was approaching the Tunis-Carthage International Airport. The aircraft was later diverted to Enfidha-Hammamet International Airport due to bad weather conditions. The diversion airport is located about 96km south of Tunis.
Passenger accounts
Pilot made 3 attempts to land
Passenger Marina Maiskaya took to Instagram to share a video of the incident, showing terrified passengers gripping their seats as the aircraft shook.
"The flight itself was smooth, but things turned absolutely terrifying as soon as we began our descent," she wrote.
Maiskaya said the pilot made three attempts to land at Tunis-Carthage International Airport through a storm, shaking passengers violently each time.
Near-freefall
'Here we started to fall down for a few seconds'
On the third landing attempt, Maiskaya wrote that they "actually started to plummet," describing it as a near-freefall experience.
"Here we started to fall down for a few seconds like free falling," she added in the video.
The aircraft was then diverted and eventually landed safely at Enfidha-Hammamet International Airport after the diversion.
Twitter Post
Visuals from cabin
TURBULENCE CHAOS ON TURKISH AIRLINES FLIGHT — MULTIPLE ABORTED APPROACHES BEFORE DIVERSION
— FL360aero (@fl360aero) September 13, 2026
Passengers aboard a Turkish Airlines flight bound for Tunisia were left terrified after the aircraft encountered severe weather and intense turbulence during the approach to Tunis-Carthage… pic.twitter.com/igMWYn0qaB