One dead, 30 injured as Singapore Airlines flight encounters severe turbulence

One person died and 30 people were injured aboard a Singapore Airlines flight that was hit by severe turbulence and forced to land in Thailand, the carrier said Tuesday.

Singapore Airlines Flight 321 encountered “sudden, severe turbulence” about 10 hours into a Singapore-bound flight from London Heathrow, the airline said. The plane, a Boeing 777-300ER, was carrying 211 passengers and 18 crew members.

Images on social media showed stunned passengers, with oxygen masks hanging from the ceiling and food and other onboard supplies strewn on the ground.

The jet fell into an air pocket over Thai airspace and requested to land at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, Kittipong Kittikachorn, general manager of Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport, told a news conference, according to Reuters.

There were severe thunderstorms in the area at the time and the “flight encountered a rapid change in vertical rate, consistent with a sudden turbulence event,” according to flight-tracking platform Flightradar24.

The deceased person is a 73-year-old British national, who likely suffered a heart attack, Reuters reported, citing Kittikachorn.

Singapore Airlines said 18 people were hospitalized and that 12 were being treated in hospitals. Other passengers were treated at the airport, the carrier said.

The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said it was sending a team to support the investigation of its counterparts from Singapore.

The airline said that 131 passengers and 12 crew who were on the flight arrived in Singapore on a relief flight at 5:05 a.m., local time, where they were met with the company’s chief executive.

“On behalf of Singapore Airlines, I would like to express my deepest condolences to the family and loved ones of the deceased passenger,” Singapore Airlines’ CEO Goh Choon Phong said in a Facebook post. “We also deeply apologise for the trauma experienced by all passengers and crew members on this flight.”

Boeing said it was in contact with Singapore Airlines about the flight and was ready to offer support. Singapore received the aircraft in 2008, according to Flightradar24.

The Aviation Safety Network has recorded seven incidents for Singapore Airlines, last logging accident fatalities for one of the company’s flights in October 2000, when 83 people were killed when the plane crashed into construction equipment at Tapei’s main airport.

Turbulence-related incidents are the most common type of accident suffered by commercial airlines, according to the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board. This covers major U.S. airlines, as well as cargo aircraft and regional carriers.

Severe injuries from turbulence are rare, however, with 163 cases recorded between 2009 and 2022, 129 of them crew members, according to the NTSB.

Dozens of injuries were reported on a Hawaiian Airlines flight from Phoenix to Honolulu in December 2022 that encountered severe turbulence.