BANGKOK, Thailand: A 73-year-old Briton died and more than 70 people were injured on Tuesday in a terrifying scene described by passengers on board a Singapore Airlines flight that hit severe turbulence and made an emergency landing in Bangkok.
Initial data analysis by air tracking service Flightradar24 indicated that the London-Singapore flight experienced more than one minute of extreme turbulence at about 11,300 meters (37,000 ft) above Myanmar, during which it climbed and descended sharply several times. The aircraft later entered a steep controlled descent and diverted to Bangkok.
Andrew Davies, a British passenger on board the Boeing 777-300ER, told BBC Radio 5 that the plane “dropped suddenly” and there was “very little warning”.
He said within a few seconds of the plane falling, there was a terrible scream and what sounded like a thud adding that he helped the woman who was “screaming in agony” with a “head gash”.
He described seeing people with head lacerations and bleeding ears adding it was incredibly strong turbulence.
Most of the injured passengers on the flight suffered head injuries, said Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport director Kittipong Kittikachorn, who confirmed the age and nationality of the deceased man.
After the plane landed at 15:45 (08:45 GMT), emergency vehicles drove onto the tarmac at the Thai capital’s main airport with lights flashing and sirens blaring.
“The plane landed at the airport and a medical team was dispatched to treat all the injured.
Flight SQ321 took off from London’s Heathrow Airport and “encountered sudden extreme turbulence” at 11,300 meters (37,000 feet) above Myanmar’s Irrawaddy Basin, according to Singapore Airlines.
In a statement, it confirmed there were “injuries and one fatality” and said there were a total of 211 passengers and 18 crew on board.
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Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong expressed his “deepest condolences” to the family and loved ones of the deceased and posted on Facebook that his country was “working closely with the Thai authorities”.
Bangkok’s Samitivej Srinakarin Hospital said a total of 71 people were sent for treatment, six of them seriously injured.
Of the passengers, 56 were Australian, 47 British and 41 Singaporean, the airline said.
Singapore’s transport ministry said it would send investigators to Bangkok, while the city-state’s president, Tharman Shanmugaratnam, said “we have to hope and pray” that the injured recover.
