Eight passengers on Vistara's Mumbai-Kolkata flight were injured on Monday as the aircraft encountered severe turbulence just before landing, officials said. The flight, UK 775, landed safely at the Kolkata airport at 4.25 pm, airport director C Pattabhi told PTI. "Due to turbulence, three passengers were injured critically and five passengers had minor injuries inside the aircraft," he said.

The India Today reports sources saying that among the injured, an elderly person has a dislocated shoulder, a woman passenger has a fractured right arm and a young man bumped his head.The aircraft is a Boeing 737 and the turbulence occurred when it was between the flight level of 20,000 feet and 17,000 feet.The Times of India quotes people saying that the woman who injured her hand is Anita Agarwal, aged 61 years, who was occupying the seat 39-D. She was taken to the Belle Vue Hospital. The elderly man who was injured in the spine was Timir Baran Das according to the TOI report, aged 77 years old. He was admitted at the Charnock Hospital. The third person who got a minor injury - Sudip Roy, aged 36 -- was reportedly discharged.

The critically injured passengers were sent to Charnock Hospital for treatment. The five passengers who received minor injuries were sent to their destination after being administered first aid, the airport director said. There were 123 passengers on board the aircraft, he said. The incident happened around 4 pm owing to bad weather when the flight was around 25 nautical miles from Kolkata, Pattabhi said.

A Vistara spokesperson said that the airline is saddened by the unfortunate experience its customers had, and is closely monitoring the health status of those injured. "We are investigating the incident on priority, and will share further updates at the earliest," the spokesperson said.

(With PTI input)