One person has died in severe turbulence on a Singapore Airlines flight from London to Singapore. 54 were injured. The plane had to make an emergency landing in Thailand in the afternoon (local time).
At least one passenger has died on flight SQ321 from London to Singapore. This is reported by local media in Thailand, cited by the English medium “Mirror”. Singapore Airline confirmed this a little later. A total of 211 passengers and 18 crew members are said to have been on board.
53 other passengers and a crew member were injured after a plane from London encountered severe turbulence. The authorities in Bangkok confirmed this on Tuesday afternoon. Seven people are in critical condition. The fatality, a 73-year-old Brit, probably suffered a heart attack.
The Singapore Airlines plane made an emergency landing in Thailand due to turbulence. Pictures show food and debris lying on the floor of the plane after the turbulence. “We can confirm that there are injuries and one fatality on board the Boeing 777-300ER,” said an airline spokeswoman.
Dzafran Azmir spoke to Reuters about the terrifying experience on board: “Suddenly the plane started to tilt upwards and there was a shaking, so I started to prepare myself for what was going to happen and all of a sudden there was a very dramatic crash so that anyone who was sitting and wasn’t wearing a seatbelt was immediately thrown against the ceiling.” The 28-year-old continued: “Some people hit their heads on the overhead bins and dented them. They hit the places where the lights and masks were attached and broke right through them.”
Another passenger describes on “X”: “The seat belt sign came on, I immediately buckled up, and then the plane just fell down. People’s belongings were scattered, coffee and water splashed on the ceiling. Unreal. So many injured people, head lacerations, bleeding ears. I called for a defibrillator. Passengers with medical training helped wherever they could. CPR on the poor gentleman who died. Another passenger was lying flat in the aisle further behind me. I don’t know what happened to them. I wish I could have helped more. A woman was screaming in pain and had a bad back. I couldn’t help her – I just brought her water. A Singapore Airlines employee told me it was by far the worst experience in her 30-year flying career.”
She then sends her condolences to the family of the deceased. “Singapore Airlines extends its deepest condolences to the family of the deceased. Our priority is to provide all possible assistance to all passengers and crew on board the aircraft.” And further: “We are working with the local authorities in Thailand to provide the necessary medical assistance and are sending a team to Bangkok, to provide any additional assistance needed.”
However, there is currently no information about the cause of the turbulence.
The Boeing 777 left London on Monday evening at 10:17 p.m. local time. The plane then apparently ran into tropical thunderstorms, which caused severe turbulence. For this reason, the plane was diverted to Bangkok, where it had to make an emergency landing shortly before 4 p.m. local time instead of arriving in Singapore at 6:10 p.m. Ambulances rolled onto the runway and attended to the injured.
