This body seize from a video by Phongsak Suksi taken and launched on Might 21, 2024 and made obtainable by way of AFPTV reveals a airplane taking off as medical employees collect close to ambulances on the fireplace station at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, after a Singapore Airways Boeing 777 London-Singapore flight hit extreme turbulence and was compelled to make an emergency touchdown. One particular person was killed and greater than 20 injured on Might 21 when a Singapore Airways Boeing 777 hit extreme turbulence on a flight from London and was compelled to make an emergency touchdown in Bangkok. (Picture by numerous sources / AFP)
BANGKOK, Thailand — A 73-year-old British man died and greater than 70 individuals have been injured Tuesday in what passengers described as a terrifying scene aboard a Singapore Airways flight that hit extreme turbulence and made an emergency touchdown in Bangkok.
An preliminary information evaluation by the aviation monitoring service Flightradar24 steered the London-Singapore flight skilled a couple of minute of utmost turbulence at round 11,300 meters (37,000 ft) over Myanmar, throughout which it violently rose and plunged a number of instances. The plane later affected a pointy, managed descent and diverted to Bangkok.
READ: 5 affected passengers on Singapore Airways flight from PH—airline
Andrew Davies, a British passenger aboard the Boeing 777-300ER, instructed BBC Radio 5 that the airplane “abruptly dropped” and there was “little or no warning”.
“Through the few seconds of the airplane dropping, there was an terrible screaming and what seemed like a thud,” he mentioned, including that he helped a girl who was “screaming in agony” with a “gash on her head”.
He described seeing individuals with head lacerations and bleeding ears: “I used to be lined in espresso. It was extremely extreme turbulence”.
A lot of the injured passengers on the flight suffered blows to the pinnacle, mentioned the director of Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport, Kittipong Kittikachorn, who confirmed the age and nationality of the deceased man.
Emergency automobiles raced onto the tarmac on the Thai capital’s fundamental airport with lights flashing and sirens blaring after the airplane touched down at 3:45 pm (0845 GMT).
“At 3:35 pm the airport obtained a misery name from the Singapore Airways flight saying there have been passengers on board injured by turbulence, and requesting an emergency touchdown,” Suvarnabhumi Airport mentioned in an announcement.
“The airplane landed on the airport and the medical workforce was despatched to deal with all of the injured.”
READ: 1 killed, 30 damage after London-SG flight hit by extreme turbulence
Flight SQ321 had taken off from London’s Heathrow airport and “encountered sudden excessive turbulence” at 11,300 meters (37,000 ft) over Myanmar’s Irrawaddy Basin, in line with Singapore Airways.
It confirmed in an announcement that there have been “accidents and one fatality” and mentioned there had been a complete of 211 passengers and 18 crew on board.
Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong despatched his “deepest condolences” to the household and family members of the deceased, posting on Fb that his nation was “working intently with Thai authorities.”
Passengers ‘too informal’
Bangkok’s Samitivej Srinakarin Hospital mentioned a complete of 71 individuals had been despatched for remedy, six of them severely injured.
“We deeply apologise for the traumatic expertise that our passengers and crew members suffered on this flight. We’re offering all mandatory help throughout this troublesome time,” Singapore Airways mentioned.
Of the passengers, 56 have been Australians, 47 British and 41 Singaporeans, the airline mentioned.
“When it comes to precisely what occurred, it’s too early to inform. However I feel passengers are too informal on board industrial plane,” US-based aerospace security skilled Anthony Brickhouse instructed AFP.
“The second the captain turns off the seatbelt signal, individuals actually unbuckle.”
Allison Barker instructed the BBC her son Josh who was aboard the airplane texted her that he was on “a loopy flight” that was making an emergency touchdown.
“It was terrifying,” she mentioned. “I didn’t know what was happening. We didn’t know whether or not he’d survived, it was so nerve-wracking. It was the longest two hours of my life.”
Singapore to ship investigators
Singapore’s transport ministry mentioned it could ship investigators to Bangkok, whereas the city-state’s President Tharman Shanmugaratnam mentioned “we should hope and pray” for the injured to get well.
The episode marks the most recent drama involving a Boeing airplane, after a fuselage panel blew out of an Alaska Airways 737 MAX in January in addition to two deadly crashes in 2018 and 2019.
Boeing mentioned it was “able to assist” Singapore Airways.
“We lengthen our deepest condolences to the household who misplaced a liked one, and our ideas are with the passengers and crew,” Boeing mentioned on social media platform X.
Scientists have lengthy warned that local weather change is more likely to enhance so-called clear air turbulence, which is invisible to radar.
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A 2023 research discovered the annual length of clear air turbulence elevated 17 p.c from 1979 to 2020, with probably the most extreme circumstances growing over 50 p.c.
