Passengers of Singapore Airlines flight SQ321 from London to Singapore, which made an emergency landing in Bangkok, greet family members upon arrival at Changi Airport in Singapore on 22 May 2024. (Roslan Rahman / AFP)
- Over 140
passengers and crew from a Singapore Airlines flight affected by severe
turbulence arrived in Singapore after an emergency landing in Bangkok. - The
turbulence occurred about 10 hours into the flight from London to Singapore,
leading to a 73-year-old British passenger’s death from a suspected heart
attack and numerous injuries among passengers. - Investigations
into the incident are being supported by both Singapore’s Transport Safety
Investigation Bureau and the United States National Transportation Safety
Board.
More than
140 passengers and crew from a Singapore Airlines flight hit by severe
turbulence that left dozens injured and one man dead have arrived in Singapore,
a day after their aircraft was forced to make an emergency landing in Bangkok.
The 131
passengers and 12 crew arrived on a relief flight early on Wednesday morning
after their original flight from London struck “sudden
extreme turbulence”
about 10 hours into the flight as it was south of Myanmar.
A
73-year-old British passenger died of a suspected heart attack, and at least 30
people were injured after the Boeing 777-300ER 1 800 metres in about three
minutes.
“I saw
people from across the aisle going completely horizontal, hitting the ceiling
and landing back down in like really awkward positions. People, like, getting
massive gashes in the head, concussions,” Dzafran Azmir, a 28-year-old
Malaysian student who was on the flight, told the Reuters news agency after
arriving in Singapore.
Videos and
photos posted on social media showed frightened passengers grabbing the
armrests, dishevelled members of the cabin crew – one with blood on her
forehead – oxygen masks, sheets of plastic from the overhead cabin panels and
other parts of the interior dangling from the ceiling with food, drink bottles
and belongings strewn across the floor.
One passenger died and several injured on board Singapore Airlines flight SQ321, which took off from Heathrow Airport and was headed to Singapore Airport after encountering severe turbulence. (Elmurod Usubaliev/Anadolu via Getty Images)
There were
211 passengers on board, including people from Australia, Malaysia, Singapore
and the United Kingdom. The injured and their families remained in Bangkok.
“We
are very sorry for the traumatic experience that everyone on board went
through,” Singapore Airlines CEO Goh Choon Phong said in a video on social
media. He said the airline was providing all necessary support and would fully
cooperate in investigations into the incident.
Officers
from Singapore’s Transport Safety Investigation Bureau arrived in Bangkok on
Tuesday night, Singapore’s Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat said in a statement
on Facebook.
The United
States National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) would also send an
accredited representative and four technical advisers to support the
investigation, he added.
Goh said
the plane encountered sudden extreme turbulence, and the pilot then declared a
medical emergency and diverted to Bangkok.
Andrew
Davies, a British passenger, told BBC radio that the aircraft “suddenly
dropped” and there was “very little warning”.
Officials enter the Singapore Airlines Boeing 777-300ER aeroplane, which was headed to Singapore from London before making an emergency landing in Bangkok due to severe turbulence, as it is parked on the tarmac at Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok on 22 May 2024. (Lillian Suwanrumpha / AFP)
“During
the few seconds of the plane dropping, there was an awful screaming and what
sounded like a thud,” he said, adding that he helped a woman who was “screaming
in agony” with a “gash on her head”.
Media in
the UK identified the man who died as retired insurance professional Geoff
Kitchen, who was from the west of England and on his way to Australia for a
holiday with his wife, Linda. She was among the passengers taken to hospital in
Bangkok.
Officials
from the British and Malaysian embassies in Bangkok visited hospitals on
Wednesday to check on the injured.
READ | UPDATE: 73-year-old UK man killed during severe turbulence on London-Singapore flight
Malaysia’s
Ministry of Foreign Affairs said nine Malaysians, including a crew member, were
receiving treatment for their injuries. One was in a critical but stable
condition, it said in a statement.
Scientists
have long warned that climate change is likely to increase the incidence of
so-called clear air turbulence, which cannot be detected by radar.
A 2023
study found the annual duration of clear air turbulence increased by 17 percent
from 1979 to 2020, with the most severe cases increasing by more than 50
percent.
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