A dog was on the Lufthansa flight that was infested so badly that 7 passengers were sent to hospital, and it took the owner hours to find out if the pup was okay

• A dog was on the Lufthansa flight that made an emergency landing, and it took hours for the owner to hear that the pup is okay.

• Garrett Stuteville had told Insider that he couldn’t get in touch with anyone about his dog. Lufthansa later confirmed that the dog was not injured.

• Seven injured people were taken to hospital after the plane hit severe turbulence.

A dog was on the Lufthansa flight from Austin, Texas to Frankfurt, Germany that had to make an emergency landing in Washington, D.C., after being hit by severe turbulence that injured seven people.

It took hours for the dog’s owner to hear that the pup was okay.

Garrett Stuteville, who lives in Singapore, told Insider that his dog was traveling from Texas to Singapore and would make a stopover in Frankfurt so he could get out of his cage for a few hours.

But after the plane landed at Dulles Airport, Stuteville said he hadn’t heard from the airline or the airport for an update on how his dog is doing.

“All we know is that he is still locked in the cage, which has been going on for over 10 hours now. And we don’t know when the flight is supposed to leave. We were told he couldn’t get out of the cage because of ‘Rules for TSA screening. We just want to know if he’s okay from anyone out there,” Stuteville told Insider.

He added that he and his wife had hired a company in the US to “handle the transportation process” to get their dog from the United States to Singapore. The agent they hired was able to contact Lufthansa agents in Germany, Stuteville said, but no Washington, D.C., representatives have reached out.

Lufthansa later told Insider that the dog was unharmed and flew to Singapore.

About 22 hours after the flight landed in Dulles, Stuteville confirmed to Insider that his dog was unharmed.

“He was looked after by the Lufthansa grounds staff at Dulles Airport, we received some photos and he is doing great,” he said.

Lufthansa Flight 469 was forced to land at Dulles International Airport around 9:10 p.m., according to the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority.

Story continues

According to a Lufthansa spokesperson, the flight experienced a “brief severe turbulence” about 90 minutes into the route, leading to an emergency landing.

“This was so-called clear sky turbulence, which can occur without visible weather phenomena or advance warning,” the spokesman said.

They added that some passengers suffered “minor injuries” during the period of turbulence and were being cared for on board.

But at least seven people were injured and hospitalized due to the turbulence, according to the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority statement.

A man who said his wife was on board posted a photo to Twitter of the plane after the emergency landing, with a mess of trash and food containers strewn across the plane’s aisle. He said the pilot had told passengers that lightning had struck the plane.

Another passenger told the Washington Post that the plane went into “free fall” as flight attendants were handing out dinner.

The FAA said in a statement to Insider that they will investigate what happened.

March 2, 2023, 9:20 PM EST: This story has been updated with additional commentary from Garrett Stuteville.

Read the original article on Insider