A TERRIFIED passenger onboard the horror Singapore Airlines flight sent an emotional text as the Boeing jet plunged 7,000 feet during deadly turbulence.
On his way to a holiday in Bali, traveller Josh Barker texted what he thought could be his final words to his loved ones.
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Mum Allison Barker described the hours of desperate waiting after getting a chilling message from her son at 9.10am on Tuesday.
“I don’t want to scare you, but I’m on a crazy flight. The plane is making an emergency landing… I love you all,” Josh’s text read.
Allison told the BBC: “‘It was terrifying. I didn’t know what was going on.
“We didn’t know whether he’d survived, it was so nerve wracking. It was the longest two hours of my life.
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“It was awful; it was petrifying.”
When she finally got through to her son, Josh assured her he was safe.
But he confessed he had some minor injuries to his teeth, adding he was “in a lot of pain.”
Flight SQ321, carrying 211 passengers and 18 crew on board, including 47 Brits, took off from London Heathrow just after 10 pm on Monday.
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The packed aircraft was smashed by unexpected “severe turbulence” as flyers were tucking into breakfast, some 11 hours into the 13-hour flight to Singapore, officials said.
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The mid-air tragedy saw the death of a British granddad, 73, and dozens more hospitalised.
The Singapore Airlines flight was diverted to the Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok where it made an emergency landing shortly before 4pm local time.
It had been due to land at Singapore’s Changi Airport at 6.10pm local time.
A convoy of 13 ambulances raced to the scene in Bangkok – with pictures showing emergency vehicles lined up on the tarmac.
Passengers appeared shell-shocked after landing as paramedics and staff helped them off the plane in wheelchairs and on stretchers – with some in neck braces.
Unsettling images captured on board also showed people lying in chairs with bleeding faces and broken noses, ceilings torn apart, and dents in the overhead lockers from bodies slamming into them.
Bottles of wine, kettles, and trash were scattered throughout the plane’s galley kitchen, along with unfinished meals.
The tragedy should serve as a reminder to passengers and flight crew about how crucial seatbelts are to in-flight safety, an expert has said.
FASTEN YOUR SEATBELTS
Aviation expert and former RAF pilot David Learmount said the aftermath of the horror turbulence suggested few people – including cabin crew members – had been wearing their seatbelts.
He told The Sun: “Now the indication there is that the crew didn’t know this turbulence was coming, or they weren’t expecting it to be anything like it actually turned out to be.
“So everybody on the aircraft was relatively unprepared, and that’s dangerous.
“If you have your seatbelt loosely fastened at all times, this kind of disaster will not happen to you.
“It would be very uncomfortable, but at least you won’t get thrown at the ceiling.”
The severity of the turbulence was “very rare”, he said, and hardly any prior instances had led to the death of a passenger.
Those onboard the flight would not have “come to any harm” – even if the turbulence had been terrible and all of the catering trolleys had been out – if they had been strapped in, the expert claimed.
He went on: “But just looking at some of the early data that’s coming out with regard to this, it sounds absolutely terrifying.
“Six thousand feet – that’s 2,000 metres – in a matter of minutes, the airliner appears to have dropped.
“That is something that would be a really horrifying experience to go through.”
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One person onboard said that passengers were not wearing their seatbelts when the turbulence suddenly jolted the plane.
Andrew Davies told BBC Radio 5 Live there was “very little warning”, adding “the seatbelt sign came on, I put on my seatbelt straight away then the plane just dropped”.
He said: “Lesson is – wear a seatbelt at all times. Anyone who is injured was not wearing a seatbelt. People who kept them on (including me) are not (as far as I could tell).”
Mr Davies added the plane “suddenly dropped” with “very little warning”.
He said: “The thing I remember the most is seeing objects and things flying through the air.
“I was covered in coffee. It was incredibly severe turbulence.
“During the few seconds of the plane dropping there was an awful screaming and what sounded like a thud.”
Mr Davies added that when the seat belt sign came on, he followed the instruction, and “at that very moment, the plane suddenly dropped”.
The passenger said he helped a woman who was “screaming in agony” after suffering a “gash on her head”, adding that there were “so many injured people” including some with head lacerations and bleeding ears.
In a post on social media, Mr Davies added: “Lots of people injured – including the air stewards who were stoic and did everything they could.
“People’s belongings scattered, coffee and water splattered the ceiling. Surreal.
“So many injured people, head lacerations, bleeding ears.
“A lady was screaming in pain with a bad back. I couldn’t help her – just got her water.”
Mr Davies said there was “very little warning”, adding “the seatbelt sign came on, I put on my seatbelt straight away then the plane just dropped”.
He said: “Lesson is – wear a seatbelt at all times. Anyone who is injured was not wearing a seatbelt. People who kept them on (including me) are not (as far as I could tell).”
Mr Davies said the emergency services in Bangkok were “quick to respond” to the incident after the flight was diverted to the city’s Suvarnabhumi Airport.
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Student Dzafran Azmir, 28, who was also on the flight, told Reuters: “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 a seatbelt was launched immediately into the ceiling.
“Some people hit their heads on the baggage cabin overhead and dented it, they hit the places where lights and masks are and broke straight through it.”
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Source: Sun
