After “severe extreme turbulence” on a flight on Tuesday resulted in one fatality and numerous injuries, the CEO of Singapore Airlines issued an apology.
“Very sorry for the traumatic experience,” the airline said in reference to Goh Choon Phong, “for those on board flight SQ321 from London to Singapore.”
The aircraft was compelled to make an emergency landing in Bangkok, the capital of Thailand.
Twenty of the 104 patients treated at Bangkok’s Smitivej Hospital are in the intensive care unit. Of the total number of patients, 58 are still hospitalized.
Six of the 15 British patients receiving treatment at the hospital are in critical condition, according to the hospital.
Early on Wednesday, a relief aircraft bringing the surviving passengers and crew members touched down in Singapore.
Over the Indian Ocean, the aircraft—which was carrying 211 passengers and 18 crew members—came into serious turbulence.
Mr. Goh said the airline was “fully cooperating with relevant authorities on the investigations” in a video message on Wednesday.
Along with extending his sympathies to the victim’s family, he said that they will “render all possible assistance” to the impacted passengers and crew members.
According to Mr. Goh, the turbulence occurred while the plane was 10 hours into its voyage and traveling at a height of 37,000 feet above the Irrawaddy Basin.
During the trip, Geoff Kitchen, a 73-year-old British man, passed away from what appeared to be a heart attack, and many other passengers are still in critical condition.
According to media accounts, Mr. Kitchen and his wife were expected to be traveling to Singapore for the beginning of a six-week vacation when they boarded the aircraft.
British passenger Andrew Davies reported that the Boeing 777-300ER “suddenly dropped… [with] very little warning”. He also mentioned that he saw a woman who had a “awful gash on her head” and heard another person “screaming in agony”.
Those who did not wear seatbelts were “launched immediately into the ceiling,” according to another passenger.
“I observed individuals from the other side of the aisle simply falling flat, striking the ceiling, and then rising back up in quite uncomfortable positions. Individuals suffering severe head injuries with concussions, Dzafran Azmir told Reuters.
People’s heads had “pushed through” some of the panels and banged onto the overhead panels above the seats, Mr. Azmir continued.
Passengers describe horrors on a turbulence-hit aircraft that claimed the life of a 73-year-old British man
The Montreal Convention states that all airlines have strict liability for any harm or death that results from passenger injury or death.
However, according to California lawyer Mike Danko, who spoke to the Reuters news agency, airlines can reduce their culpability by demonstrating that the passengers may have contributed to the damage, for example, by disobeying the advice to wear seatbelts.
The family and loved ones of the deceased received the prime minister of Singapore’s “deepest condolences” from Wong, who also stated that Singapore was “working closely with Thai authorities”.
He added that a comprehensive inquiry into the occurrence would be carried out by Singapore’s Transport Safety inquiry Bureau.
Singapore Airlines often ranks among the safest airlines in the world, hence accidents involving the airline are uncommon.
The last tragic disaster happened in 2000 at a Taiwanese airport when a Boeing 747 was trying to take off on the incorrect runway.
Out of the 179 passengers, about 83 perished.
The Associated Press examined tracking information obtained by FlightRadar24 and found that Singapore Airlines flight SQ321 was traveling at 37,000 feet (11,300 meters) in the air.
The data shows that at one point, the Boeing 777-300ER descended abruptly and quickly to 31,000 feet (9,400 meters) over a period of roughly three minutes.
The plane then deviated and touched down in Bangkok in less than 30 minutes after remaining at 31,000 feet (9,400 meters) for less than ten minutes.
The aircraft was flying over the Andaman Sea, close to Myanmar, when the turbulence suddenly dropped down. At that moment, the airplane transmitted an international emergency signal, or “squawk code,” of 7700.
It took some time for the current weather to be made public.
Turbulence is typically associated with strong storms. However the most hazardous kind is known as “clear air” turbulence. Wind shear can happen in the clear air around thunderstorms or even in the wispy cirrus clouds because of the strong currents of fast-moving air caused by temperature and pressure variations.
The issue of turbulence was brought to light in December of last year when 41 passengers on two different flights who were affected by turbulence in the US suffered injuries or had to seek medical attention twice in a row.
In a 2021 report, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said that from 2009 to 2018, turbulence was the cause of 37.6% of all accidents on bigger commercial aircraft.
Following the December occurrences, the Federal Aviation Administration, another U.S. government body, reported that 146 people had suffered serious injuries due to turbulence between 2009 and 2021.
The man’s family received condolences from Boeing, the manufacturer of the Singapore Airlines aircraft that experienced turbulence, which also stated that it was “in contact with Singapore Airlines regarding flight SQ321 and stand ready to support them.”
The widebody Boeing 777 is a workhorse of the aviation industry, primarily utilized by airlines worldwide for long-haul trips.
The twin-engine, two-aisle 777-300ER model of the aircraft is bigger and has a higher passenger capacity than previous iterations.
22 of the aircraft are flown by Singapore Airlines, the flag carrier of the city-state, which has a fleet of over 140 aircraft. The parent business of the airline, which also runs the low-cost airline Scoot, is mostly controlled by the Temasek government investment conglomerate in Singapore.
On his Facebook page, Singapore’s Minister of Transportation, Chee Hong Tat, also posted condolences. He stated that “the affected passengers and their families are receiving support” from his ministry, Singapore’s Foreign Ministry, the nation’s Civil Aviation Authority, Changi Airport officials, and airline employees.
The ministry’s Transport Safety Investigation Bureau announced that it is looking into the event, has contacted its Thai counterpart, and plans to send investigators to Bangkok.
56 Australians, 2 Canadians, 1 German, 3 Indians, 2 Indonesians, 1 from Iceland, 4 from Ireland, 1 Israeli, 16 Malaysians, 2 from Myanmar, 23 from New Zealand, 5 Filipinos, 41 from Singapore, 1 South Korean, 2 Spaniards, 47 from the United Kingdom, and 4 from the United States are among the passengers, according to Singapore Airlines.
