More than 140 travellers and crew members who were onboard a flight hit by severe turbulence landed in Singapore on a relief flight earlier this morning.
Passengers onboard SQ321 which was heading from London to Singapore, recounted scenes of “absolute terror”, with one passenger saying he saw a woman with an “awful gash on her head”, and heard another “screaming in agony”.
A 73-year-old British man, Geoff Kitchen, died from a suspected heart attack onboard, while several others remain seriously injured.
Mr Kitchen is believed to have suffered a heart attack when the plane was hit by the turbulence. Reports say he was on his way to Singapore to start a six-week holiday along with his wife who was also on board.
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.
Smitivej Hospital, in Bangkok, said 104 people were treated and 58 remain in hospital, 20 of whom are in the intensive care unit.
There are 15 Britons still being treated in hospital, with six in intensive care, the hospital said.
Andrew Davies, a British passenger onboard the Boeing 777-300ER, told the BBC’s Radio 5 Live that the plane “suddenly dropped… [with] very little warning”.
“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 said.
Another passenger said those not wearing seatbelts were “launched immediately into the ceiling”.
“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.
“I saw people from across the aisle just going completely horizontal, hitting the ceiling and landing back down in really awkward positions. People getting massive gashes in the head concussions.”
Mr Azmir added that people’s heads had slammed into the overhead panels above the seats and “pushed through” some of the panels.
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