On board the Boeing 777-300ER, which made an emergency landing in Bangkok, there were 211 passengers and 18 crew members.
One person was killed and several others injured when a Singapore Airlines flight from London to Singapore was hit by severe turbulence, the airline said.
The Boeing 777-300ER was diverted to Bangkok, Thailand, where it made an emergency landing at 3:45 p.m. (08:45 GMT) on Tuesday.
Flight SQ321 “encountered severe turbulence en route,” Singapore Airlines said in a statement on its Facebook page.
“We can confirm that there are injuries and one death on board the Boeing 777-300ER.”
There were 211 passengers and 18 crew members on board.
After about 11 hours of flight, the plane plummeted from an altitude of about 37,000 feet to 31,000 feet in just five minutes as it crossed the Andaman Sea and approached Thailand, according to data from FlightRadar 24.
“Suddenly the plane started to tilt and there were tremors, so I started to prepare for what was happening, and very suddenly there was a very dramatic drop, so everyone who was sitting and without a seat belt was immediately thrown out towards the ceiling,” said Dzafran Azmir, a 28-year-old man. he told Reuters news agency a year-old student on board the flight.
“Some people hit their heads on the luggage cabins and dented them, hit the places where the lights and masks are and went through them,” Azmir said.
Turbulence-related deaths 'rare'
Andrew Charlton, director of Aviation Advocacy, told Al Jazeera that deaths caused by turbulence are “extremely rare”.
He said the plane was flying over a tropical area where thunderstorms, which can cause turbulence, are common.
Charlton said a change in air temperature, caused by a lower layer of air cooling as the day ended and night began, could also have caused severe turbulence.
He highlighted that the Singapore Airlines plane is designed to “withstand strong turbulence.” However, he also warned that turbulence can still cause injuries to passengers who are not wearing seat belts.
Singapore Airlines did not say how many people were injured, but several Thai media reports said 30 were injured.
It said its “priority is to provide all possible assistance to all passengers and crew on board the plane” and that it was working with Thai authorities “to provide the necessary medical assistance.”
Thai immigration police said medical staff had boarded the plane to assess injuries, but did not confirm the number. He said the passengers had disembarked unharmed.
Singapore Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat said the government will provide assistance to passengers and their families.
“I am deeply saddened to learn of the incident on board Singapore Airlines flight SQ321 from London Heathrow to Singapore,” he posted in a statement on Facebook. “My deepest condolences to the family of the deceased.”
