After a fatal flight, shocked passengers land in Singapore

After an emergency landing in Bangkok, more than 140 passengers and crew members from a Singapore Airlines (SIAL.SI) flight that was severely disrupted and resulted in numerous injuries and one fatality eventually arrived in Singapore on a relief flight on Wednesday morning.

A Boeing (BA.N) 777-300ER aircraft operating from London to Singapore was forced to divert to Bangkok due to turbulence that threw the passengers and personnel around the cabin, smashing some of them against the ceiling.

An airport official reported that a 73-year-old British passenger passed away from a suspected heart attack. Meanwhile, Bangkok’s Samitivej Hospital reported that 20 patients were in critical condition, nine had undergone surgery, and five more were scheduled for surgery.

“I observed individuals from the other side of the aisle flying straight up, striking the ceiling, and then landing back down in pretty strange postures. After landing in Singapore, Dzafran Azmir, a 28-year-old student on the flight, told Reuters, “People, like, getting massive gashes in the head, concussions.”

Images of the aircraft’s interior revealed oxygen masks and panels hanging from the ceiling, holes in the overhead cabin panels, and scattered luggage. According to a passenger, some people’s heads hit the lights above the chairs, shattering the panels.

The rescue aircraft from Bangkok, operated by Singapore Airlines, had 131 passengers and 12 crew members and arrived in Singapore just before 5 a.m. (2100 GMT). On the first voyage, there were 211 passengers—many of whom were Australians, British, and Singaporeans—as well as 18 staff members. Families of injured fliers stayed in Bangkok.

Kittipong Kittikachorn, general manager of Bangkok Suvarnabhumi airport, reported on Tuesday that seven persons had suffered critical injuries.

In a video message, Singapore Airlines CEO Goh Choon Phong said, “On behalf of Singapore Airlines, I would like to express my deepest condolences to the family and loved ones of the deceased.”

According to a Facebook message from Singapore’s Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat, agents from the country’s Transport Safety Investigation Bureau landed in Bangkok on Tuesday evening.

He stated that the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) of the United States was sending a representative and four technical advisers to support the investigation because the event involved Boeing, a U.S. firm that manufactures the 777-300ER aircraft.

According to Goh, the pilot reported a medical emergency and decided to divert the aircraft to Bangkok after the aircraft experienced abrupt, severe turbulence.
Based on flight monitoring data, aircraft tracking firm FlightRadar 24 reported that at 07:49 GMT, the airplane experienced “a rapid change in vertical rate, consistent with a sudden turbulence event”.

“There were thunderstorms, some severe, in the area at the time,” it continued.

AccuWeather, a weather forecasting service, stated on Tuesday that there was a high probability of violent turbulence caused by swiftly building, explosive thunderstorms close to Flight 321’s flight route.

According to Dan DePodwin, senior director of forecasting operations at AccuWeather, “developing thunderstorms often have strong updrafts, a zone of upward moving air, that rises very rapidly, sometimes at more than 100 mph, and can leave pilots with little time to react.”
About ten hours into the journey, over the Irrawaddy Basin in Myanmar, there was an abrupt turbulence, according to Singapore Airlines.

Large thunderstorms in the Bay of Bengal are relatively uncommon. Bumps are always possible, according to an airline pilot who frequently travels to Singapore and other parts of Southeast Asia. Because he is not permitted to speak with the media, the pilot chose not to reveal his identity.

“We were about 30 miles off track flying around the thunderstorms two days ago on the way to Singapore,” said the pilot.

Although there are several sources of turbulence, the most obvious one is the unpredictable weather patterns that lead to storms. However, clear air turbulence, which is harder to spot, may have also contributed to this flight’s disruption.

Seatbelt use is crucial for all passengers, according to Sara Nelson, international president of the Association of Flight Attendants (CWA), which represents over 50,000 employees at 20 airlines.

“It truly is a matter of life and death,” Nelson declared.

An NTSB analysis from 2021 found that airplane accidents involving turbulent conditions are the most frequent kind of mishaps.

The U.S. government discovered that between 2009 and 2018, turbulence was the cause of over 33% of reported airline accidents, with the majority leading to one or more significant injuries but no damage to the aircraft.

Notably regarded as one of the top airlines globally and a model for much of the business, Singapore Airlines has not seen any significant mishaps in the last several years.

The last incident in which it suffered casualties was a flight from Singapore to Los Angeles via Taipei, which crashed at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on October 31, 2000, killing 83 of the 179 passengers.

Due to a national holiday in Singapore on Wednesday, shares of Singapore Airlines were not traded.