Passengers have recounted scenes of "absolute terror" when severe turbulence hit their Singapore Airlines flight, launching people and objects across the cabin. A 73-year-old British man, Geoff Kitchen, died from a suspected heart attack, while more than 30 people were injured when the London-Singapore flight suffered a sudden drop as a meal service was under way. Briton Andrew Davis described “awful screaming and what sounded like a thud" in the first few seconds of the incident.
"The thing I remember the most is seeing objects and things flying through the air. "I was covered in coffee. It was incredibly severe turbulence," he told the BBC.Another passenger said the aircraft suddenly started "tilting up” and “shaking". "I started bracing for what was happening, and very suddenly there was a very dramatic drop, so everyone seated and not wearing a seatbelt was launched immediately into the ceiling," 28-year-old student Dzafran Azmir 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 added.The Singapore-bound Boeing 777-300ER diverted to Bangkok following the mid-air incident, making an emergency landing at 15:45 local time (08:45 GMT) with some 211 passengers and 18 crew aboard. Singapore Airlines said 31 people on board were taken to hospital and the airline offered its deepest condolences to Mr Kitchen's family.
The Thornbury Musical Theatre Group, a local theatre company he helped run in South Gloucestershire, called him "a gentleman with the utmost honesty and integrity". An airline official said that about 10 hours into its flight, the plane had encountered "sudden extreme turbulence" over Myanmar's Irrawaddy Basin at 37,000 feet. The company said it was working with Thai authorities to provide medical assistance to passengers, and was sending a team to Bangkok to provide any additional help needed.