DENPASAR (Indonesia) - EIGHT Taiwanese have been hospitalised on Bali after a China Airlines jumbo jet hit severe turbulence en route to the Indonesian holiday island, the airline said on Saturday.

The Boeing 747 from Taipei to Denpasar's Ngurah Rai airport with 338 passengers hit turbulence roughly two hours before landing at around 2 pm (0600 GMT), an airline employee in Bali, who identified herself as Jasmine, said.

The injured were four passengers and four cabin crew, she said.

'We had already prepared nine ambulances before landing to take the injured to Sanglah hospital.'

The eight suffered scratches and broken bones, including at least one with a fractured spine, hospital spokesman Made Sri said.

A spokesman for the aircraft operator, Mohammad Dimyati, said there was no damage to the aircraft. -- AFP