Sydney, Australia, March 12 (EFE).- Chile and New Zealand on Tuesday launched an investigation into a "technical problem" on a LATAM Airlines flight that injured 50 people.

Flight LA800 from Sydney to Auckland on Monday experienced a "technical problem" which caused a "strong shake," LATAM said.

New Zealand's Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) told EFE in a statement Tuesday that it was "gathering evidence relevant to the inquiry, including seizing the cockpit voice and flight data recorders."

The TAIC added that its investigations into this incident, which occurred in international airspace, are pursuant to a request from the Dirección General de Aeronáutica Civil (DGAC), which is the body "responsible for investigating the accident" in the framework of the International Convention on Aviation.

For its part, the DGAC announced in a statement published on X that it plans to appoint "an accredited representative" in New Zealand to participate in the investigation.

Meanwhile, LATAM said in an email sent Tuesday to EFE that it was working in coordination with the respective authorities to support the investigation.

LATAM's Boeing 787 plane had 263 passengers and nine crew members on board when it landed in Auckland on Monday at around 4.30pm local time (04:30 GMT) after experiencing what passengers described to local media as a "drop" during the flight.

Fifty people were treated by medics, one of whom was in "serious" condition and the rest in "moderate" to "minor" condition, said New Zealand's St. John ambulance service on Monday.

LATAM said Tuesday that 10 passengers (two from New Zealand, four from Australia, one from Chile, two from Brazil and one from France) and three crew members were taken to hospitals, but the majority have already been discharged and the remaining do not have "life-threatening risks."

The Chilean airline has not provided details of the "technical problem," or when the incident occurred.

According to Flightradar, the plane dropped about 100 meters about two-thirds into its route, falling from an altitude of 41,000 feet to about 40,692.

Flight L800, between Sydney and Santiago, Chile, with a stopover in Auckland, is very popular route among the tens of thousands of Latin American immigrants traveling to and from their countries of origin. EFE

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