WEST VIRGINIA NATIONAL GUARDSMEN INJURED IN EMERGENCY LANDING - High Winds Encounted

(07/12/2003)
A West Virginia Air National Guard plane returning to Martinsburg encountered severe turbulence this afternoon with twenty airmen injured.

The plane made an emergency landing at a Virginia naval air station.

Major Mike Cadle is a National Guard spokesman in Charleston. He says about 40 members of the 167th Airlift Wing were on the flight, which was bringing them home from a four-month posting in Puerto Rico.

A spokesman said none of the injuries were life-threatening.

The plane hit turbulence about 60 miles south of the base, and officials decided to make an emergency landing.

The plane was met by emergency crews and Navy medical teams. The injured were taken to three different hospitals.

The 20 other members of the 167th Airlift Wing are expected to stay overnight and head back to West Virginia tomorrow.

About 300 of the detachment's 12-hundred members have been posted overseas supporting the US war against terrorism.