Seven passengers fell ill and one was hospitalised after a Mumbai-bound Dreamliner experienced sudden cabin depressurisation over the Arabian Sea at 33,000 feet.
Mumbai | June 28, 2025: In a mid-air scare, an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 787 Dreamliner flying from Addis Ababa to Mumbai was forced to make an emergency landing on Friday after suffering a cabin depressurisation incident while cruising over the Arabian Sea.
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Flight ET640, operating at an altitude of 33,000 feet, reportedly experienced a rapid drop in cabin pressure, prompting pilots to descend quickly to safer levels. Upon landing in Mumbai, seven passengers complained of uneasiness, while one individual had to be hospitalised, according to initial reports.
Data from FlightRadar24 confirmed a sharp and sudden altitude dip during the incident. Medical teams were on standby as the aircraft touched down at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, ensuring prompt assistance to the affected passengers.
The incident comes on the heels of a similar medical emergency on June 23, when eleven individuals — including six crew members — felt dizzy and nauseous aboard an Air India Boeing 777 operating the Heathrow-Mumbai route. That aircraft remains under investigation by aviation authorities.
In another unsettling event this month, a Boeing 787 operated by Air India on the Delhi-Hong Kong route triggered panic when passengers reported a “shaking, hissing” door mid-flight, though no injuries were reported.
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Aircraft cabins are typically pressurised using conditioned air and oxygen to replicate ground-like breathing conditions at high altitudes. Any failure in this system — like what appears to have occurred in the Ethiopian Airlines incident — can lead to hypoxia, dizziness, and passenger distress.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is already grappling with multiple safety concerns following the tragic crash of Air India Flight AI171 in Ahmedabad earlier this month. The black box data from that incident is still under analysis.
While civil aviation continues to be statistically safe, the spate of recent incidents involving Boeing aircraft has intensified scrutiny over operational and safety protocols in Indian airspace.
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aviation safety, Ethiopian Airlines, Boeing 787, cabin depressurisation, emergency landing Mumbai, ET640, Air India flight incident, DGCA probe, aircraft pressurisation, flight medical emergency, black box analysis, Mumbai airport