A Singapore Airlines flight from London to Singapore “encountered severe turbulence”, killing one person and injuring dozens, the airline said on Tuesday. Flight SQ321 from London’s Heathrow Airport was diverted to Bangkok and landed at Suvarnabhumi Airport at 3:45pm local time on Tuesday, the carrier said in its statement. Facebook page.
“We can confirm there are injuries and one fatality on board the Boeing 777-300ER,” A previous statement saidThere were 211 passengers and 18 crew on board.
Suvarnabhumi Airport director Kittipong Kittikachorn said in a press conference that the dead passenger was a 73-year-old British man, quoted by various news outlets. According to Kittikachorn, seven people were seriously injured, including some with head injuries. Dozens were injured with various injuries, he said.
Bangkok’s Samidivej Hospital in Srinagar said it had treated a total of 71 people, with six seriously injured, according to news agencies.
Pongsakornr Rodphai via Reuters
CBS News’ partner network is BBC News reported The deceased is believed to have suffered a heart attack during the commotion.
Video from a Thai airport showed passengers disembarking from the plane on a tarmac surrounded by emergency vehicles.
A triage area packed with airport and medical staff could be seen lying on the tarp under a tent.
The airline said it “expresses its deepest condolences to the bereaved family” and is assisting all passengers and crew on board.
Boeing also expressed its condolences to the family of the passenger who died on the flight A statement posted on social media. The US space agency said it is in touch with Singapore Airlines and is ready to support the airline in the wake of the incident.
Reuters/Stringer
Monitoring data from FlightAware The website showed the Singapore Airlines plane plummeting from an altitude of about 37,000 feet to 31,000 feet in about five minutes. The Boeing 777, which took off from London, was crossing the Andaman Sea and approaching the coast of Thailand when the plane went down about 10 hours later.
“Suddenly the plane started tilting up and shaking, so I started bracing to see what was going on, and suddenly there was a very dramatic fall, so that everyone who was sitting and not wearing seat belts was immediately launched into the ceiling,” said passenger Disafran Azmir. Reuters news agency. “Some hit the top of the baggage cabins with their heads and dented it. They hit where the lights and hoods were and broke it straight up.”
Pongsakornr Rodphai via Reuters
Another passenger, Andrew Davies, spoke to BBC News on Tuesday about the horrific flight. Updates on social media Describes a previous incident.
Terrible experience, he said. “A lot of people were injured – including the flight attendants, who did everything they could.”
Davis said there was “very little warning” before the plane crashed, but the seatbelt warning light was on.
“I put my seat belt on immediately and then the plane went down,” he said, describing the chaos in the cabin as people screamed for defibrillators and medically trained passengers tried to help the injured.
“One of the Singapore Airlines crew said it was the worst in 30 years of flying,” Davis said in a tweet: “Lesson – wear a seat belt at all times. Anyone injured, not wearing one. Seat belt.”
The airline said there were four Americans on board. The remaining passengers include 56 from Australia, 47 from the UK, 41 from Singapore, 23 from New Zealand, 16 from Malaysia, 5 from the Philippines, 4 from Ireland, 3 from India, and two each from Canada, Indonesia and Myanmar. One each from Spain, Germany, Iceland, Israel and South Korea.
Although in-flight turbulence is increasingly common on many routes, fatalities and serious injuries are rare. Four People were injured Severe turbulence on a domestic US flight over Florida in July 2023.
There are climatologists It warned passengers to brace More flight delays and cancellations and more frequent and severe turbulence, especially in routes over the world’s fastest-warming oceans, have resulted. Climate change.
CBS News climate producer Tracy Wolf said the impacts of climate change on air travel are far broader than just increasing turbulence. Airports affected by floodsExtreme heat and precipitation hampered aircraft takeoffs and landings and increased mid-air lightning strikes.
Alex Sundby contributed reporting.
