'Do not panic': Delta flight bound for Florida plunges nearly 30,000 feet

ATLANTA — A Delta flight full of passengers from Atlanta plunged nearly 30,000 feet.

Passengers described panic as they grabbed for oxygen masks onboard a Delta flight, WSB-TV reported.

Pictures show the masks hanging from the ceiling during a fast descent.

Flight Aware shows how Flight 2353 to Fort Lauderdale diverted to Tampa instead.

According to the website, the plane descended from 39,000 feet to 10,000 feet in fewer than seven minutes.

"Air masks, the oxygen masks dropped from the top of the plane. Chaos sort of ensued amongst the passengers," passenger Harris Dewoskin said.

Dewoskin snapped pictures during what he described as a panic onboard.

"One of the flight attendants, I believe, grabbed the intercom and was just repeatedly over the intercom stating, 'Do not panic. Do not panic,' but obviously it's a hectic moment, so the passengers around me, a lot of people were kind of hyperventilating, breathing really hard," Dewoskin said.

Another passenger said he was so scared by what was happening, he told his family he loved them and hugged his son.

"Life is fragile, like, there was a scary 60 to 90 seconds where we really didn't know what was going on. At 15,000 feet in the air, it's a scary moment for sure," Dewoskin said.

The plane was sitting Wednesday night at Tampa International Airport, where mechanics were working to figure out what went wrong.

Some passengers booked other flights with other airlines to get to Fort Lauderdale.

Officials with Delta Air Lines apologized to everyone on the plane and said the plane diverted to Tampa "out of an abundance of caution."

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