A Hawaiian Airlines flight from Phoenix to Honolulu faced severe turbulence Sunday causing 36 people to suffer injuries.

The flight, which had 278 passengers and 10 crew members, was struck by a dangerous thunderstorm. The pilot was reportedly aware of some storm conditions, but the severity of the storms was unclear.

Jon Snook, the airline's chief operating officer, said Sunday at a press conference that 11 people were in serious condition and one person went unconscious.

The 36 people were taken to the hospital for injuries including bruises, cuts, bumps on the head, feeling nauseous, and vomiting, according to Jim Ireland, director of Honolulu Emergency Medical Services.

"We are continuing to support our guests and employees who sustained injuries today after Flight HA35 from PHX to HNL encountered severe turbulence. We are also conducting a thorough inspection of the aircraft before returning it to service," Hawaiian Airlines said on Twitter.

"We apologize to our guests for this incident and thank our crew members, first responders, hospital personnel, and airport teams for their coordinated response," it added.

Many of the injuries were due to passengers not wearing seatbelts when the turbulence would hit which caused them to fly upwards when the plane would drop in altitude.

"If you don't have your seatbelt on, you stay where you are as the aircraft goes down and that's how those injuries occur," Snook said.

The National Transportation Safety Board is conducting an investigation into what the passengers and crew were doing along with any issues with the plane.