A Garuda Indonesia plane taking off.
We can’t imagine how horrifying it would be to hear an explosion during a flight.
On Saturday, a wine chiller on board Garuda Indonesia GA717 flight from Melbourne to Jakarta exploded. While the explosion was small and fortunately did not cause any critical damage to the plane, it was powerful enough to severely injure a flight attendant, Ayu Marta, who was standing nearby.
The chiller exploded out of nowhere and sent the door flying towards Ayu Marta, hitting her in the face. Ayu’s injuries were so severe that she was immediately taken to an ICU in a nearby hospital as soon as the plane landed in Jakarta.
“On Sunday morning, August 23, 2015, [Ayu] went through light surgery,” said Garuda Indonesia Spokesman Benny Butar Butar, as quoted by Tempo today.
The specifics of her injuries were not disclosed, but Benny said that Ayu is recovering from her injuries.
The plane landed right on schedule in Jakarta. There were no reports of any passengers or any other flight crew who were injured by the in-flight explosion.
Garuda Indonesia’s technical team is investigating the cause of the wine chiller explosion.
