On Tuesday passengers on a Singapore Airlines flight experienced severe turbulence which caused chaos aboard the Boeing aircraft carrying 229 people. A British man died and several others were injured.
At first, “the flight was perfectly normal,” said passenger Andrew Davies, who was traveling to New Zealand for business. He described the flight as “quite smooth … I don’t remember any turbulence at all.
Flight SQ321 was cruising at 37,000 feet from London to Singapore when flight tracking data shows the plane dropped sharply before climbing several hundred feet, then repeated the dip and ascent, for about a minute.
Many passengers were having breakfast at the time of the incident.
Then, about nine or 10 hours into the roughly 13-hour flight, he was watching a movie when he saw the seat belt sign light up – so he put his seat belt on. “Thank goodness I did because, within moments of doing that, all hell broke loose,” he told CNN’s “Erin Burnett OutFront.”
“The plane just felt like it dropped. It probably only lasted a few seconds, but I remember vividly seeing shoes and iPads and iPhones and cushions and blankets and cutlery and plates and cups flying through the air and crashing to the ceiling. The gentleman next to me had a cup of coffee, which went straight all over me and up to the ceiling,” Davies said.
Davies was sitting toward the front of the plane and witnessed some of the injuries sustained by dozens of passengers – including Geoff Kitchen, a 73-year-old Briton who died on the flight.
“That gentleman was sitting right behind me,” he said. “Lots of people needed some help but we tended to this gentleman, and I helped carry him, get him out of the seat, and we laid him on the floor so that some medical professionals could administer CPR.”
The kitchen was given CPR for about 20 minutes, said Davies. Meanwhile, he said, “There was so much screaming,” and people’s injuries were evident; when he turned around, he saw one passenger with “a big gash in her head and blood pouring down her face,” and another elderly passenger in “severe shock.”
Another passenger, 28-year-old student Dzafran Azmir, told Reuters that the aircraft had begun “tilting up” and shaking.
“Very suddenly there was a very dramatic drop so everyone seated and not wearing a seatbelt was launched immediately into the ceiling,” he told Reuters. “Some people hit their heads on the baggage cabins overhead and dented it, they hit the places where lights and masks are and broke straight through it.”
Azmir added that the whole thing was “really, really quick – which is why I think nobody could respond to it.” People didn’t have time to react, he said – there were passengers in the plane bathrooms and aircrew still standing when the turbulence hit.
The plane had to be rerouted to Bangkok due to an incident that resulted in injuries to 104 passengers, with many receiving treatment at Samitivej Srinakarin Hospital.
Those injured on the flight included citizens from Australia, Malaysia, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Spain, the United States, and Ireland, the hospital said in an earlier update.
Those needing medical assistance were sent to several hospitals in the Thai capital, while others were looked after at a clinic at the airport. Samitivej Srinakarin Hospital said 20 travelers remained in intensive care units on Wednesday.
Of the 229 people on the original flight, 143 were sent to Singapore on a relief flight, as confirmed by Singapore Airlines CEO Goh Choon Phong.
The remaining 79 passengers and 6 crew members are still in Bangkok, including those receiving medical care, and their family members.
Kittipong Kittikachorn, the general manager of the Bangkok airport, said on Tuesday that preliminary investigations suggest Kitchen had suffered from a heart condition, and that the autopsy process is ongoing.
Several passengers had broken arms, but the majority of injuries were cuts and bruises, he added.
Goh, the CEO, extended his condolences to Kitchen’s family and loved ones, saying the airline was “deeply saddened by this incident” and was “very sorry for the traumatic experience” that passengers endured.
The airline is cooperating with authorities on the investigation, he added.
Singapore’s Ministry of Transport is actively investigating an incident and has communicated with Thai authorities. They are sending investigators to Bangkok. In addition, the US National Transportation Safety Board is providing support by dispatching a representative and four technical advisors to Singapore to assist with the investigation.
Goh, the CEO, expressed deep sadness and apologies on behalf of the airline for the traumatic incident, conveying condolences to Kitchen’s family and loved ones.
