A RyanAir flight was forced to make an emergency landing after severe turbulence on Wednesday, possibly due to the influence of a supercell

En route from Berlin to Milan, the flight made a sudden diversion close to the Alps, with initial sources suggesting that the flight path hit a supercell over southern Germany.

The impact of the turbulence left eight passengers injured and resulted in an emergency landing at Bavaria's Memmingem Airport.

Supercells are typically considered the most dangerous form of thunderstorm with intense cloudbursts, large hailstones, and extreme down drafts.

On Wednesday, a line of storms passed over southern Germany, first forming in Switzerland, though flight data suggests that the flight attempted to avoid this via the Czech Republic.

Instead, the aircraft made a sudden shift in direction and altitude close to the Alps, where strong Foehn winds were occurring at the time, which could have resulted in severe rotor-induced turbulence.

Some passengers aboard the aborted flight eventually completed their journey via bus after regional flight authorities prevented departure, while others boarded a replacement flight on Thursday morning.