One passenger was killed and 30 injured after a Singapore Airlines flight from London hit severe turbulence en route, forcing it to make an emergency landing in Bangkok, officials and the airline said. Aviation investigators arrived in Bangkok to learn how and why severe turbulence sent the plane into a sudden dive that tossed passengers and crew around the cabin.
The flight fell into an air pocket while the cabin crew was serving breakfast before it encountered turbulence, prompting the pilots to request an emergency landing. Twenty people remained in intensive care in hospital after Flight SQ321, which was flying from London's Heathrow airport to Singapore, hit the turbulence over the Andaman Sea.
A passenger who was on the flight said that the incident involved the sensation of rising then falling. Singapore Airlines sent a special flight to Bangkok to pick up those well enough to travel.
"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," a 28-year-old student on board the flight said. The ICU patients include six Britons, six Malaysians, three Australians, two Singaporeans and one person each from Hong Kong, New Zealand, and the Philippines.
There were at least three Indian nationals aboard the Singapore Airlines flight. The US National Transportation Safety Board is also sending an accredited representative and four technical advisers to support the investigation because the incident involved a Boeing plane.
A passenger speaking from a hospital with her left arm in a sling, said she had been “thrown to the roof and then to the floor.” Singapore Airlines said it was actively reaching out to family members and loved ones, where possible, of the injured persons to provide updates and offer any needed support.