Turbulence: Twelve injured on Doha-Dublin flight

Passengers described the incident as frightening.

They said the plane seemed to drop out of the air for about five seconds during food-and-drinks service.

One passenger, named Cathal, who was travelling home to Ireland from Doha, told Irish broadcaster RTÉ that the seatbelt signs were off during the incident and that his dinner had come off his lap.

“Just food all over the plane, on the ceiling, everywhere,” he said.

Another, Paul Mocc, said he saw people hitting the roof of the aircraft.

“I had my seatbelt on at the time, but they were serving food at the time so a lot of the crew were injured.”

Mr Mocc added that he saw crew members limping after the incident, some with bandages on, but said that they continued to serve passengers.

He also described seeing one passenger on oxygen with suspected back injuries who had been placed lying down across a number of seats.

Emma Rose Power and Conor Buckley were travelling back to Dublin from Thailand when they were caught up in the incident.

Mr Buckley said he felt the plane drop and a flight attendant went “up in the air”.

Ms Power said she was asleep when the plane hit turbulence but described seeing a “look of panic on everyone’s faces” when she was woken.

She added that flight attendants had scratches on their faces and one had their arm in a sling afterwards.