Singapore Airlines Flight Diverted To Bangkok After Severe Turbulence Leaves One Dead Dozens Injured

A Singapore Airlines flight from London to Singapore experienced severe turbulence over the Indian Ocean on Tuesday forcing the Boeing 777-300ER to make an emergency landing in Bangkok. One passenger, a 73-year-old British man, died and dozens more were injured, some severely.

The aircraft with 211 passengers and 18 crew members aboard suddenly dropped 6,000 feet (around 1,800 meters) in about three minutes according to tracking data from FlightRadar24. The sharp descent occurred as the flight was over the Andaman Sea near Myanmar and the aircraft sent a “squawk code” of 7700, an international emergency signal.

Passengers described a chaotic scene with those not wearing seatbelts being launched into the ceiling and overhead baggage compartments. “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,” Dzafran Azmir, a 28-year-old student on the flight, told ABC News.

Kittipong Kittikachorn, general manager of Suvarnabhumi Airport, said at a news conference that seven passengers were severely injured, 23 passengers and nine crew members had moderate injuries, and 16 with less serious injuries received hospital treatment. The British man appeared to have had a heart attack but medical authorities would need to confirm that.