Passengers and officials have described scenes of chaos inside the Singapore Airlines flight struck by severe turbulence before an emergency landing in Thailand. it was all so sudden that the cabin crew didn’t have time to sit down.
Images have revealed damage caused to a Singapore Airlines plane after the flight from London Heathrow was caught in turbulence.
One British man, 73, died during the incident, with multiple people injured as Flight SQ321 began to shake during breakfast.
Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport Director Kittipong Kittikachorn told reporters that 30 people were injured, including at least one crew member.
Images from the cabin of a plane en route to Singapore but diverted to Bangkok, Thailand, show damage caused by turbulence.
Passenger Andrew Davis, who was sitting in premium economy class, he was watching a movie when the seatbelt sign came on and the plane began to fall.
He said that everything happened so quickly that the captain didn’t even have time to ask the flight attendant to sit down.
“Every flight attendant I saw was injured in some way, probably with a cut on the head…One had a bad back and was clearly in pain,” he said. said.
“I don’t think they were able to let us know. I think they gave us as much notice as they could.”
He also said: He also said there was no physical injury to anyone who was wearing a seat belt.
Another passenger on the plane suspected people who were not wearing seatbelts were “instantly thrown into the ceiling” after the plane suffered a “dramatic crash”.
“Staff and people in the toilets were the most injured because we found people sitting on the floor and unable to stand up,” Zahran Azmir said.
“There were many injuries to the spine and head.”
People fell to the ground, cell phones “flew out of their hands,” “knocked down several aisles,” and people’s shoes “flew off.” ” he said. Around. ”
As soon as the plane arrived on the tarmac, nurses and paramedics arrived to check on the injured, Azmir said.
“I don’t think they expected it to be this bad,” he added.
Ambulances then arrived and Mr Azmir said he saw at least eight people being taken out on stretchers through the emergency exit. It took 90 minutes for the plane to escape.
Images showed damage to the cabin ceiling and food, knives and other debris scattered on the floor after the incident.
Mr Kichikakorn said some of the injured had suffered cuts to the head and described the incident as “chaos”.
The flight, operated by a Boeing 777-300ER, departed on Monday at 10:17pm, diverted to Bangkok and landed at 3:45pm local time (9:45am BST) on Tuesday. did.