An air passenger has said that he silently accepted that he would die on a Wizz Air flight from Alicante in Spain to Italy before it was forced to make a landing at a different airport early on Thursday morning. Video of the turbulence experienced by terrified passengers has been posted online, and shrieking people on board can be heard fearing the worst. Italian Nicolò Colecchia, 24, who now lives in the Spanish port city while working as a waiter, told the Express: “It was terrible, I silently accepted that i was going to die
“We dived for about 10 seconds so much that I could feel the G-force. I was about to lose consciousness. The plane was moving left and right like in the movies, people were screaming, children were crying.” The experience has made him wary of taking to the skies again any time soon. Mr Colecchia added: “I don’t know if I’ll fly again soon.”
Italy has seen extreme weather this summer, and bad weather caused problems for the aircraft’s pilot when it was trying to land at Fiumicino, the country’s busiest airport.
After multiple attempts, the flight abandoned its scheduled route, landing in Bologna, more than 250 miles away early on Thursday morning.
Mr Colecchia was airdropped a video of the inside of the plane during the worst of the turbulence by a Spanish passenger, and posted the clip on TikTok.
He wrote that bad weather in the sky over Rome “prevented the landing of the Wiz Air flight from Alicante, Spain and bound for the capital”.
The shaken customer wrote: “The pilot, forced to use extreme manoeuvres after a first landing attempt, finally opted to divert the plane to Bologna airport.
“All passengers were unharmed, the first comments show strong stress and terror experienced at high altitude.
“The airline is evaluating the methods of transporting passengers overland for their return to Rome.”
The Express has approached Wizz Air for comment.
The airline told MailOnline: “Wizz Air flight W4 6038 from Alicante to Rome Fiumicino on August 20 was diverted to Bologna Airport after it was unable to land safely due to adverse weather conditions at Rome Fiumicino Airport.
“The aircraft landed safely and without incident in Bologna at 3:57am local time. Passengers were provided with ground transportation from Bologna to Rome.’
The company added that if passengers had independently arranged ground transportation, they would be entitled to a refund in accordance with European regulations.
A spokesperson said: “Weather conditions are beyond the airline’s control, and safety remains Wizz Air’s top priority.”