MINNEAPOLIS — The 25 people injured when a Delta airliner hit severe turbulence out of Salt Lake have been released from Minneapolis hospitals. There were bumps and bruises but the injuries all were sustainable, Delta said. The Airbus 330-900 was 40 minutes into a flight to Amsterdam and had climbed to 37,000 feet. It was just clearing the east slopes of the Rocky Mountains in northern Wyoming. It hit what can be described as an invisible pillar of wildly heaving currents. The plane dropped 1,300 feet in two minutes. Passengers described flight attendants being thrown into the air. One woman hit the ceiling and fell on another passenger and appeared to break her ribs. The pilot immediately throttled back to minimize mid-air structural stress on the aircraft. Airbus 330-900s weigh 26 tons fully fueled with fuel. Aware of injuries, the Pilot radioed to be diverted to an airport with facilities to accommodate mass casualties. Response: 800 miles to Minneapolis. The plane touched down successfully at 7:43 p.m. Medics were waiting. Among passenger accounts:

> Nick-Taylor Jensen, a Danish passenger, said seat belt signs were off, although passengers were advised as usual to keep belted while in their seats. Flight attendants were serving drinks. “A man five rows in front of me flew out of his seat and hit the ceiling,” Jensen told the Minnesota Star Tribune. “The side-to-side and up-and-down jostling was not normal turbulence. The noise of the plane and extreme rushing air was unlike anything I’ve heard on a flight. Jensen’s father, a few rows in front of him, hit his head on the overhead luggage bin. At one point Jensen made eye contact with his father and “mutually had the feeling we were saying goodbye.”

Disarray in cabin. Water bottles, pillows, phones and food carts flew in what looked to be slow motion, said one passenger. People were drenched in drinks that were being served ahead of dinner. Image: Ricardo Hoogesteger

> A Belgian passenger told KMSP that he was buckled and uninjured but watched a nearby passenger fly into ceiling. Another passenger grabbed onto one of the man’s legs to hold onto him. The man was basically stuck to the ceiling during the turbulent free-fall.

> Joseph Carbone, a passenger, to KARE: “It was the meal service. It was just starting. It was calm before that, then it felt like we crashed into something. All of a sudden, the bottom just dropped out. We watched everything around us go up and hit the ceiling. There was lots of screaming and panic. It honestly felt like it was tearing the plane apart.”

NOTE: This updates and clarifies details from our original account.

Earlier: Turbulence jolts Delta flight: 288 aboard, 25 injured