Flight To Hawaii Hit 'Severe Turbulence' & Passengers Are Sharing The Horror Stories (PHOTOS)

A Hawaiian Airlines flight from Phoenix to Honolulu experienced severe turbulence on Sunday morning and sent several passengers to the hospital with serious injuries.

At least 36 passengers on the flight were injured, 11 of them seriously, after the plane encountered "severe turbulence." Multiple people were sent to the emergency room, reported BBC.

According to one passenger on the flight, the turbulence got so bad that they were "pretty much floating off of our chairs."

Injuries included bruises, lacerations, head injuries and loss of consciousness.

Honolulu Emergency Medical Services confirmed in a statement that the youngest patient they treated for a serious injury from the flight was a 14-month-old child, as per CNN.

There were 278 passengers and ten crew members on board the flight.

The turbulence hit shortly before the flight was due to land at Honolulu's Daniel K Inouye International Airport, and thunderstorms were reported in the area.

Passenger Kaylee Reyes told local news channel Hawaii News Now that the turbulence hit out of nowhere without warning and gave passengers little time to buckle up and prepare.

Reyes' mother had just sat back in her seat when the turbulence began but she didn't get a chance to fasten her seatbelt.

"She flew up and hit the ceiling," Reyes said.

Another passenger, Jazmin Bitanga, told Hawaii News Now that there were two "intense" drops, one of which sent her boyfriend's water bottle flying into the ceiling, leaving behind a crack.

"I turned around, and there was a couple of people bleeding and just bracing themselves," said Bitanga. "Just all around me, there were people crying."

Photos posted to Instagram by the father of passenger Jazmine Bitanga showed the damage to the aircraft due to the turbulence, including giant cracks in the ceiling.

Hawaiian Airlines released a statement confirming that "medical care was provided to several guests & crew members at the airport for minor injuries while some were swiftly transported to local hospitals for further care."

"We are supporting all affected passengers & employees and are continuing to monitor the situation," continued the statement posted on the airline's Twitter page.

An update statement by the airlines said, "we are also conducting a thorough inspection of the aircraft before returning it to service," before apologizing for the incident.

"We apologize to our guests for this incident and thank our crew members, first responders, hospital personnel, and airport teams for their coordinated response," ended the statement.

During a news conference, the airline's chief operating officer, Jon Snook, said that Hawaiian Airlines had not experienced "an incident of this nature in recent history," as per the Associated Press.

Snook also confirmed that three crew members were among those injured.

This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.