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Plane plunges thousands of feet in minutes, makes emergency landing in Tampa

The flight departed Wednesday afternoon from Atlanta.

TAMPA, Fla — A Delta Air Lines flight from Atlanta to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, made an emergency landing at Tampa International Airport.

Flight tracking website FlightAware showed Delta flight 2353 took off just before 4 p.m. Wednesday from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, appeared to turn around over the Gulf of Mexico and land just after 5 p.m. in Tampa.

A Delta spokesperson provided the following statement: 

“We apologize to our customers on flight 2353 from Atlanta to Fort Lauderdale, which diverted to Tampa out of an abundance of caution and landed without incident following a cabin pressurization irregularity en route.”

The plane is being evaluated by maintenance in Tampa, they add.

Tampa airport spokeswoman Emily Nipps said the plane landed briefly due to an unknown issue causing the pressurization masks to drop.

The flight's drop in altitude goes from 38,000 feet to just above 10,000 feet in about seven minutes, according to Flight Aware.

People on Twitter commended the flight crew for keeping people calm and safe on board. Tiffany Sawyer said they were "awesome."

"@Delta so this hasn’t happened before but your #2353 flight crew from ATL to FLL (now Tampa) was awesome@keeping people calm.  Now I know the bag doesn’t really inflate..."

Another user, J.T., said the plane descended quickly while in flight and oxygen masks fell down.

"@Delta Flight 2353 God Bless the Captain and crew. Had an emergency midair from Atlanta to Fort Lauderdale. Oxygen masks deployed and we descended quickly and we're diverted to Tampa. I texted my wife and dad I loved them. Told my mom I love her and hugged my son. @wsvn @cbs12"

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