An Air Canada jet liner was forced to make an emergency landing in Calgary on Thursday after it hit turbulence in midair.

Eight passengers and two crew members were injured and had to be taken to hospital for treatment.

The passengers described the turbulences as drops in altitude.

According to Reuters, the jet was carrying five crew members and 83 passengers from Victoria, British Columbia to Toronto.

Airbus A319 ARBU.UL started jolting when it came above the Rocky Mountain. Some of the passengers were simply thrown out of their seats.

One passenger female who was seating on the plane's front cabin told CBS television: “One side of the plane just went up a little bit sideways and then it just sort of went back down. And our friend was really hurt ... she flew up and hit the ceiling and (came) right back down.”

According to another passenger, the turbulences lasted for about 10 to 15 seconds.

The plane landed on the Calgary International Airport at 8:30 a.m. local time. There it was surrounded by 11 ambulances and 20 firefighting vehicles.

According to Stuart Brideaux of Calgary Emergency Medical, ten people were rushed to the hospital, the Associated Press informs.

He also said that there were no major injuries.

Six of them were taken on stretches to the hospital. Later one the Calgary Health Region said that nine of the people were released and the last one on was on his way to be discharged.

Rob Abernethy, Calgary's associate chief medical officer, said: “None of the patients received any life-threatening injuries. Most of the injuries are the soft tissue, orthopedic, minor type. These are mostly musculoskeletal injuries one would normally see if someone was bounced around or having fallen.”

Air Canada only declared that “an incident” occurred aboard the flight.

The cause of the incident wasn’t disclosed.

A federal investigation will be conducted in order to find out the cause of the incident. According to Air Canada Vice-President Duncan Dee, the airline will cooperate with investigators.