Singapore Airlines: Passenger dead after severe turbulence on London-Singapore flight

Bangkok, Thailand
CNN
 — 

One individual has died and at the very least 71 others have been injured on board a Singapore Airways aircraft that encountered extreme turbulence on a flight from London to Singapore.

The Boeing 777-300ER aircraft diverted to Bangkok, based on a publish on the Singapore Airways Fb web page. It mentioned 211 passengers and 18 crew have been on board.

The corporate mentioned initially in a publish that 30 passengers had been harm within the mid-air disruption and have been being handled in hospitals, whereas different vacationers have been receiving outpatient care on the airport.

The one one that died was a 73-year-old British man, recognized as Geoff Kitchen.

“Preliminary investigations point out that the deceased suffered from a coronary heart situation,” the Basic Supervisor of Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Worldwide Airport Kittipong Kittikachorn mentioned Tuesday, including that the post-mortem course of was nonetheless ongoing.

Kitchen’s demise was confirmed by the Thornbury Musical Theatre Group (TMTG), an institution the place he labored for over 35 years, in a Fb publish that described him as “all the time a gentleman with the utmost honesty and integrity” and who “all the time did what was proper for the group.”

The British International Workplace informed CNN it was supporting the household of a British passenger who died on a Singapore Airways flight.

The flight landed within the Thai capital at 3:45 p.m. native time (4:45 a.m. ET) Tuesday.

Kittikachorn, who inspected the plane, informed CNN he was knowledgeable of the emergency touchdown 10 minutes earlier than it touched down. He additionally mentioned that a number of passengers had sustained damaged arms however that almost all of accidents have been cuts and bruises.

Some injured passengers have been despatched to the close by Samitivej Srinakarin Hospital, Kittikachorn mentioned, including that nearly 200 vacationers have been ready to take onward flights to their locations. A Singapore Airways aircraft carrying 131 of the 211 passengers later departed Bangkok for Singapore, he mentioned.

The hospital mentioned in an replace that at the very least 71 folks had been injured, together with residents from Malaysia, the UK, New Zealand, Spain, america and Eire. It additionally mentioned six persons are severely injured. Earlier, Kittikachorn had mentioned seven folks have been critically injured.

The aviation monitoring web site FlightRadar24 says, primarily based on its information, that the turbulence on Singapore Airways flight SQ321 occurred over Myanmar at roughly 7:49 a.m. UTC (3:49 a.m. ET).

This traces up with a press release from the airline stating that the aircraft, “encountered sudden excessive turbulence over the Irrawaddy Basin [a river in Myanmar] at 37,000 ft, about 10 hours after departure.”

FlightRadar24 mentioned in a weblog publish that, based on its information, at the moment, ”the flight encountered a fast change in vertical price, per a sudden turbulence occasion.”

The info present the flight altering course about 14 minutes later. The airline says, “The pilot declared a medical emergency and diverted the plane to Bangkok.”

The FlightRadar24 information present the flight, which was cruising at 37,000 ft, all of a sudden dipping then quickly climbing a number of hundred ft earlier than dipping and climbing once more after which lastly settling again at its cruising altitude. Your entire disruption took about 90 seconds, based on the info, however resulted in dozens of accidents, together with a fatality.

The flight doubtless encountered quickly growing thunderstorms over southern Myanmar on Tuesday in the course of the time that excessive turbulence was reported, based on CNN Climate evaluation.

The evaluation of satellite tv for pc information exhibits an space of growing thunderstorms over the Irrawaddy Delta between 7 a.m. and eight:30 a.m. GMT (early afternoon native time). This corresponds to the identical time and placement reported by the airline and impartial information evaluation of the flight observe from FlightRadar24.

Tropical thunderstorms like these are typical for this time of 12 months with moisture growing within the area because the southwest monsoon season is starting in South Asia. They will type rapidly within the early afternoon because the land heats up, particularly close to the shoreline.

Budding thunderstorms like Tuesday’s could not seem on radar of their earliest levels, though the short rising movement inside them can nonetheless produce turbulence. The storm cells doubtless grew from 20,000-30,000 ft to nicely over 50,000 ft in lower than an hour.

Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam issued a press release on his social media accounts, expressing “condolences to the household and family members of the deceased.”

“We do not need the small print of these affected, however know that the federal government ministries and businesses, in addition to SIA, are doing their utmost to help all these affected and dealing with the authorities in Bangkok, the place the aircraft had been diverted to,” Shanmugaratnam mentioned.

Singapore’s Minister for Transport Chee Hong Tat mentioned he was “deeply saddened to study concerning the incident,” in a press release posted to his social media.

“Ministry of Transport, Singapore, Singapore Ministry of International Affairs, Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore and Changi Airport officers in addition to SIA [Singapore Airlines] employees are offering help to the affected passengers and their households,” he mentioned.

Singapore’s Ministry of Transport mentioned in a assertion that it was investigating the state of affairs involving SQ321 and its Transport Security Investigation Bureau was in contact with their Thai counterparts.

Turbulence happens when a aircraft flies by way of clashing our bodies of air shifting at extensively totally different speeds.

With gentle and reasonable turbulence passengers would possibly really feel a pressure in opposition to their seatbelt, and unsecured gadgets may transfer across the cabin.

However in extreme circumstances turbulence can throw passengers across the cabin, inflicting extreme accidents and sometimes demise.

In March 2023, violent actions on a non-public jet resulted within the demise of a former White Home official, although an investigation later discovered that climate was not concerned in that incident. That incident got here simply days after seven folks have been transported to hospitals after a separate business flight hit important turbulence.

In July 2023, seven folks have been injured on a Hawaiian Airways flight to Sydney, Australia, when the aircraft was buffeted by extreme turbulence, and 36 folks have been injured on a Hawaiian Airways flight from Arizona to Honolulu in December 2022, with 20 folks taken to emergency rooms.

A September 2022 examine predicts that clear-air turbulence will improve considerably across the globe by the interval 2050-2080, particularly alongside the busiest flight routes, and the strongest sort of turbulence will improve essentially the most.

Singapore Airways is commonly thought-about one of many world’s most secure carriers.

Its solely earlier deadly accident was in October 2000 when flight SQ006 crashed when the Boeing 747-400 took off from a closed runway in Taiwan amid heavy rain, killing 83 on board.

Singapore Airways mentioned later Tuesday {that a} devoted crew had arrived in Bangkok “to help our colleagues and the native authorities on the bottom” in an replace on its Fb web page.

The flight operator expressed its “deepest condolences to the household of the deceased. We deeply apologize for the traumatic expertise that our passengers and crew members suffered on this flight.”

Boeing has mentioned it’s in contact with the Singaporean provider and is “able to help them.” The producer is deferring additional inquiries to the airline and native authorities.

This story and headline have been up to date with extra developments.

CORRECTION: An earlier model of this story incorrectly described a March 2023 incident involving a non-public jet. The Nationwide Transportation Security Board later dominated climate had not been concerned within the violent actions of that aircraft.