One individual has died and dozens others sustained injuries after a Singapore Airlines Boeing flight encountered severe turbulence and plunged several thousand feet.

The flight had left London for Singapore and diverted to Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok.

The aircraft reportedly made an emergency landing in Bangkok at 3:45 p.m. 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,” the company stated.

“Singapore Airlines offers its deepest condolences to the family of the deceased,” the airline said, according to the New York Post. 

From the New York Post:

It wasn’t immediately clear if the onboard fatality was a passenger or crew member.

Roughly 11 hours into the flight, FlightRadar24 tracking data showed the Boeing jet sharply dropping from an altitude of about 37,000 feet to 31,000 feet within just five minutes as it flew over the Andaman Sea.

“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.”

Per CNN:

Turbulence occurs when a plane flies through clashing bodies of air moving at widely different speeds.

With light and moderate turbulence passengers might feel a strain against their seatbelt, and unsecured items could move around the cabin.

But in severe cases turbulence can throw passengers around the cabin, causing severe injuries and occasionally death.

In March 2023, severe turbulence on a private jet resulted in the death of a former White House official, just days after seven people were transported to hospitals after a separate commercial flight hit significant turbulence.

In July 2023, seven people were injured on a Hawaiian Airlines flight to Sydney, Australia, when the plane was buffeted by severe turbulence, and 36 people were injured on a Hawaiian Airlines flight from Arizona to Honolulu in December 2022, with 20 people taken to emergency rooms.

 

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