Elder Hinckley hurt on plane to Korea

Elder Richard G. Hinckley , son of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints President Gordon B. Hinckley, is back in Salt Lake City recovering from emergency surgery to repair an eye injury he received aboard the private jet taking an LDS Church entourage to Korea.

His eye ruptured after being struck by a rubber exercise band, available for use by passengers, when its handle broke.

Jane Hinckley told KSL-TV that her 63-year-old husband, named to the church's First Quorum of the Seventy this past spring, was injured about 90 minutes after the plane left Anchorage, Alaska, late last week.

The plane was immediately rerouted to Anchorage, where Hinckley underwent surgery. He will undergo follow-up surgery in Salt Lake in about 10 days, Jane Hinckley said, noting it is too early to tell whether the injury will permanently affect Hinckley's eyesight.

After stopping in Anchorage, the plane continued on to Vladivostok and then on to Seoul, Korea, where President Hinckley spoke to a regional conference. President Hinckley, who turned 95 in June, will continue on to Taiwan and Hong Kong, then to India and Africa, where he is to dedicate the Aba Nigeria Temple.