Battered passengers from Thursday's terror-hit Continental Airlines flight praised the air crew who ran to their aid despite suffering serious injuries themselves.

Stewardess Leslie Thomas was bleeding heavily from a head gash but was soon helping out after the Puerto Rico-bound flight from the US had hit heavy turbulence over Bermuda, causing it to drop 500 feet in just seconds.

Holiday-maker Soky Laboy, 50, who suffered a dislocated shoulder, said: "That stewardess was great. She was badly hurt but she carried on helping calm people down. I felt sorry for her.'' The four flight attendants did patch up jobs on the hurt and bleeding among the 153 passengers, aided by a doctor who happened to be on board.

Mrs. Laboy was pinned down for several minutes when a food trolley landed on her shoulder but it was pulled off by steward Lloyd Villa who had earlier been hit by another trolley in the first of two jolts which were just seconds apart.

Mrs. Laboy said: "He was bleeding real bad but he was the one that got that thing off me. The crew were excellent, so very brave.'' Passenger Jose Arroyo said: "The male steward had been knocked out but as soon as he came round he was up on his feet helping other people.'' "They were very supportive and organised and carried on working despite their injuries.'' Vicky Taliaferro, 47, from Texas, said: "The male steward was hurt pretty bad. You could see his neck was bent over but he was still helping out. New York cop David Martinez, 39, was also impressed. "I've been in a lot of crises and they did a great job. When the turbulence hit I thought my last moment had come.'' "After the first jolt a child in front of me panicked and tried to get out of her seat. I had to hold her down while my brother put her seat belt back on.'' Shelly Batenga, 28, from Virginia, said: "It was freaky. Everybody was screaming. There were a lot of kids on their own travelling to see relatives for the vacation and there were kids sitting separately from their families.

There were a lot of old people on the flight as well.

"My first thought was for the children. I was sitting next to a 12-year-old girl and I grabbed hold of her hand and told her everything was going to be OK and we started praying together.'' "The turbulence hit after lunch so everyone was walking around and the trolleys were out to clear up the food. It couldn't have come at a worse time.'' Robert Rivera, 52, suffered a broken leg when an air stewardess landed on him.

He said: "I'm still in shock, it's very painful and both ankles are hurt. I haven't been able to sleep and my wife has had a nervous breakdown.'' The Perez family from Connecticut, USA, were also badly hit with mother Norma, 51, and father Efraini, 49, in neck braces after they had hit the ceiling during the jolts.

Mr. Perez said: "I thought I was going to die. It was terrifying.'' His daughter Lisandra, 23, added: "We were heading to Puerto Rico on an emergency mission because my grandfather is in hospital. We didn't need this extra hassle.'' And Julio Cartagena from New Jersey, USA, had also suffered a double blow. He said: "I was flying out for the funeral of my grandfather. I've been on a lot of flights before and this isn't what you expect.'' Many of the passengers were puzzled that the airline was taken by surprise by the turbulence after giving the all-clear to take off their seatbelts.

Shelly Batenga said: "There are some planes which have early warning systems for this. I don't think anyone should have to go through this again.'' "There could easily have been deaths.'' But Continental spokeswoman Carla Villalon said the technology was not there to spot all types of weather conditions.

She said: "We will be studying data from the flight records and the US Air Authority will do an investigation.'' The firm paid for overnight accommodation, meals and phone calls for the passengers but they refused to be drawn on the question of further compensation.

Ms Villalon said: "We don't have a policy on this and we will take everything on a case by case basis.'' "We may get in touch with passengers as a follow up.'' Ms Villalon added that she was very pleased with the way the four stewards and two pilots had dealt with the crisis.

She said: "Staff are trained for these situations but to carry on working when they have been hurt themselves is not something you can train. We are very proud of them.''