Passenger on board Singapore Airlines jet from UK describes turbulence

A passenger onboard a Singapore Airlines jet travelling from the UK has described the extreme turbulence that killed a fellow flyer, reportedly a 73-year-old British man, in a tragic incident today.

After around 11 hours of flying time from take off in London, the aircraft sharply dropped 6,000 feet in just five minutes, causing chaos in the cabin.

Terrified passengers have described how they had little warning to put their seatbelts on before the aircraft suddenly dropped, with one passenger saying people were ‘launched into the ceiling’ as the plane fell through the sky.

‘Suddenly the aircraft starts tilting up and there was shaking so I started bracing for what was happening, and very suddenly there was a very dramatic drop so everyone seated and not wearing seatbelt was launched immediately into the ceiling,’ Dzafran Azmir, a 28-year-old student on board the flight 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,’ he said.

In pictures of the cabin, ceiling fittings are shown ripped apart and the pipework left exposed. Machinery was seen hanging from the galley where trolleys are stored. 

One air stewardess was seen with blood over her face. Her male colleague could be seen in a chair nearby, looking shocked and dishevelled.

Another passenger described how in the aftermath, other flyers had to administer medical assistance to those who were injured.

The Boeing 777 plane operated by Singapore Airlines left the UK’s Heathrow airport on Monday evening at 22.17pm local time with 211 passengers and 18 crew on board.

However, flight SQ321 experienced severe turbulence while flying close to Myanmar airspace in a region currently being battered by extreme tropical thunderstorms.

The plane dropped from an altitude of around 37,000 feet to 31,000 feet within just five minutes as it finished traversing the Andaman Sea and neared Thailand. 

The plane – registered 9V-SWM – was diverted to the Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok where it made an emergency landing at 15.45pm local time, the airline announced on its Facebook page.

It had been scheduled to land at the Singapore Changi Airport at 6.10pm local time.

Ambulances were seen racing onto the tarmac next to the plane. The dead passenger was reportedly later removed after injured travellers were assisted. 

Local media reported that one passenger had died and around 30 others were injured, leading to the emergency landing. It was not immediately clear where the person who died in the incident was from.

One man who said he was on the flight took to X (formerly Twitter) to describe the incident.

Andrew Davies, from Lewisham, London, wrote that he and other passengers who were not injured in the turbulence were currently waiting in a holding area at the airport.

‘Lots of people injured – including the air stewards who were stoic and did everything they could,’ he wrote.

‘Bangkok emergency services quick to respond. Very little warning. The seatbelt sign came on, I put on my seatbelt straightaway then the plane just dropped.’

Mr Davies wrote that ‘passengers with medical training’ were working to help the injured in the aftermath of the plane dropping.

‘CPR on the poor gentleman that passed. Another passenger laid flat in aisle further behind me. Not sure what happened with them,’ he said.

‘People’s belongings scattered, coffee and water splattered the ceiling. Surreal. So many injured people. Head lacerations, bleeding ears. A lady was screaming in pain with a bad back. I couldn’t help her – just got her water.’

He said that he wished he could have done more to help, adding: ‘My heart goes out to the gentleman who lost his life and his poor wife. Awful experience.’

In a statement on Facebook, Singapore Airlines confirmed the emergency landing and that one passenger had died in the incident.

‘Singapore Airlines flight #SQ321, operating from London (Heathrow) to Singapore on 20 May 2024, encountered severe turbulence en-route,’ the statement from the airline said. ‘The aircraft diverted to Bangkok and landed at 1545hrs local time.

‘We can confirm that there are injuries and one fatality on board the Boeing 777-300ER. There were a total of 211 passengers and 18 crew on board,’ it said.

‘Singapore Airlines offers its deepest condolences to the family of the deceased.

‘Our priority is to provide all possible assistance to all passengers and crew on board the aircraft,’ the statement added. ‘We are working with the local authorities in Thailand to provide the necessary medical assistance, and sending a team to Bangkok to provide any additional assistance needed.’

Singapore’s President Tharman Shanmugaratnam said he was ‘greatly saddened by the loss of a life caused by the severe turbulence on board the SQ321 flight from London earlier today, and the injuries caused to several others,’ in a statement shared on his social media.

‘My deepest condolences to the family and loved ones of the deceased. We must hope and pray that the passengers or crew members who were injured are able to recover smoothly. 

He added: ‘We do not have the details of those affected, but know that the government ministries and agencies, as well as SIA, are doing their utmost to support all those affected and working with the authorities in Bangkok’.

Singapore’s Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat said his country’s government would assist the passengers and their families.

‘I am deeply saddened to learn about the incident onboard Singapore Airlines flight SQ321 from London Heathrow to Singapore,’ he wrote on Facebook.

Speaking to the BBC, aviation expert John Strickland said that injuries from flight turbulence are ‘relatively rare’ considering how many flights operate each day.

‘However, severe turbulence can be dramatic and lead to severe injuries or sadly in this case a fatality,’ he added. ‘It is not for nothing that airlines recommend keeping seat belts loosely fastened throughout a flight be it long or short.’

He told the PA news agency: ‘Exposure is greater in different parts of the world. 

‘The South Atlantic, Africa and the Bay of Bengal are all places that spring to mind where there’s a greater incidence,’ adding: ‘There are discussions about whether climate change is influencing an increase in occurrences.’

Mr Strickland said airlines use a variety of methods to minimise the chances of a flight being affected by turbulence, such as weather forecasts, radar and reports from aircraft ahead.

He added: ‘It can never be taken lightly when airlines recommended you keep the seatbelt loosely fastened throughout the flight.’

Marco Chan, Senior Lecturer in Aviation Operations at Buckinghamshire New University, told MailOnline that incidents involving extreme turbulence tend to occur when a plane is navigating through thunderstorms.

‘The thunderstorms, bringing possible severe ice and turbulence, are prominently displayed on the pilots’ navigation display,’ Chan – who is also an Experienced Airbus Pilot and former A330 First Officer with Hong Kong Airlines – said.

‘The pilots are expected to navigate around the thunderstorms while having the seat belt sign on as a pre-caution. 

‘It may not be possible to completely circumvent the thunderstorms cluster as they can stretch well over 50 nautical miles plus due to airspace restrictions,’ he noted.

Turbulence-related airline accidents are the most common type, according to a 2021 study by the National Transportation Safety Board.

From 2009 through 2018, the US agency found that turbulence accounted for more than a third of reported airline accidents and most resulted in one or more serious injuries, but no aircraft damage.

Singapore Airlines, widely recognised as one of world’s leading airlines and a benchmark for much of the industry, has not had any major incidents in recent years.

Its last accident resulting in casualties was a flight from Singapore to Los Angeles via Taipei, where it crashed on October 31, 2000 into construction equipment on the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport after attempting to take off from the wrong runway. The crash killed 83 of the 179 people on board.

While there is no suggestion that today’s incident was the fault of the plane, it is the latest scare involving a Boeing-manufactured aircraft in recent weeks.

Questions over safety have plagued the manufacturer ever since a door plug blew out of a 737 Max on an Alaska Airlines flight in January.

The safety crisis at Boeing has led to aircraft shortages, which could cause a wave of cancellations this summer as Britons prepare for their holiday getaways.

This has not been helped by a string of incidents involving Boeing planes, with May seeing at least four – with three coming in just two days.

In Turkey on May 9, a Boeing plane’s tyre burst on the runway after landing.

That same day, shocking footage emerged showing the moment terrified passengers fled a burning Boeing 737-300 jet carrying 78 passengers that skidded off the runway and caught fire during take-off in Senegal.

These two incidents came after a FedEx plane made an emergency landing at Istanbul Airport on May 8, with video showing its nose skidding along the runway.

Video also captured flames shooting from the back of a Boeing 747-400 just last week on May 16, forcing the jet to make an emergency landing in Indonesia.

On the planed involved in today’s incident also being a Boeing, Mr Chan noted: ‘The aircraft in question is a Boeing 777-300ER, a manufacturer that has already hit the headlines. It must be emphasised that such incidents can happen to any flights and any manufacturer’s aircraft.’

‘The crucial next steps are for Singapore Airlines to now arrange to bring the affected passengers to their initial destination – Singapore,’ he said.

‘They will also need to work with the local civil aviation authorities and investigation teams, particularly with the pilots and the cabin crew onboard (once they are recovered from the flight or any injuries sustained), to find out what happened.

‘It will also be important to analyse the in-flight data to look at the parameters of the flight to understand the effect of the turbulence and the cockpit voice recorder to understand the conversations and actions that took place during the incident.’