American Airlines Flight 1780 Aruba-to-Miami flight encounters turbulence, 12 injured

(CNN) -- Five people were taken to a hospital and others were treated at an airport after an Aruba-to-Miami flight encountered turbulence while making its initial descent into Miami, an American Airlines spokesman said.

The incident occurred Tuesday night aboard Flight 1780, about 30 minutes before it landed at 6:06 p.m., Matt Miller said.

Two flight attendants and three passengers were taken to a hospital, and a handful of other passengers received medical attention at the Miami airport, Miller said.

"It appears that we had approximately 12 patients," said Michelle Fayed, a spokeswoman for Miami-Dade Fire. "Only five were transported. The others were treated on scene with minor injuries and released."

The turbulence lasted about 15 seconds, he said. The Boeing 757's seat belt sign was on at the time, and nothing on radar showed turbulence was in the area.

The flight left Aruba at 3:30 p.m., carrying 185 passengers and a crew of six, Miller said.

-- CNN's Melanie Whitley contributed to this report.
 
™ & © 2012 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.