Delta Plane Plunges Nearly 30,000 Feet in Less Than 7 Minutes, Causing Oxygen Masks to Deploy

Photo: George Frey/Getty

Passengers on a recent Delta flight that was on its way from Atlanta, Georgia to Fort Lauderdale, Florida endured seven minutes of terror as Flight 2353 quickly dropped nearly 30,000 feet in the air.

“Air masks, the oxygen masks dropped from the top of the plane. Chaos sort of ensued amongst the passengers,” Harris Dewoskin, who was aboard the flight, told the outlet. He added that despite the crew’s attempts to keep people calm, many of his fellow passengers went into a panic.

Dewoskin added: “One of the flight attendants, I believe, grabbed the intercom and was just repeatedly over the intercom stating, ‘Do not panic. Do not panic,’ but obviously it’s a hectic moment so the passengers around me a lot of people were kind of hyperventilating, breathing really hard.”

Another passenger sharedphotos on Twitter, writing that he was so terrified that he “texted my wife and dad I loved them. Told my mom I love her and hugged my son.”

Another passenger shared pictures of the oxygen bags, saying that the flight crew “was awesome@keeping people calm.”

In a statement shared with PEOPLE, Delta apologized to passengers on board the frightening flight.

“While in flight between Atlanta and Fort LauderdaleDelta flight 2353made a rapid, controlled descent due to a possible aircraft depressurization issue. We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience and delay,” the statement said.

“Life is fragile like. There was a scary 60 to 90 seconds where we really didn’t know what was going on,” Dewoskin said. “At 15,000 feet in the air, it’s a scary moment for sure.”

source: people.com