Turbulence Kills Passenger on Boeing Jet, Puts Seven in Critical Condition
Shaky Landing
During a flight from London to Singapore, a Boeing jet experienced such major turbulence that one passenger died and dozens more were injured.
As Reuters reports, food, luggage, and passengers were flung around the 777-300ER jet's cabin as it hit an air pocket and began to shake violently.
Singapore Airlines has confirmed that a 73-year-old British man died, and it seems that the cause was cardiac arrest. At least 30 other people were injured, with 18 being sent to the hospital and seven of those in critical condition, per the airline.
As footage posted to social media and a passenger interview Reuters conducted indicate, the scene onboard the flight was terrifying
"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," 28-year-old student and passenger Dzafran Azmir told the news wire.
"Some people hit their heads on the baggage cabins overhead and dented it," he continued, "they hit the places where lights and masks are and broke straight through it."
Seriously, air turbulence atau gelora udara makin sering terjadi.
Banyak Flights aku naik memang terkena, tapi tak seteruk yang ini, sampai seorang maut (warga British lekaki berusia 70 tahun).
Flight SQ321 dari London ke Singapore terpaksa mendarat di Bangkok.
Pesawat Boeing… pic.twitter.com/pchtFuCfel— Hezeri Samsuri (@HezeriSamsuri) May 21, 2024
Emergency
The jet made an emergency landing at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi airport, where the scene that unfolded sounds dire.
"I saw things lying everywhere and many air crew injured," airport general manager Kittipong Kittikachorn said during a press conference. Photos and videos from the incident show just how scary the situation on board was, too.
This incident couldn't come at a worse time for Boeing, which this year has faced incident after incident as pieces keep falling off of its planes and its whistleblowers keep turning up dead.
In March, another Boeing jet — this one operated by United Airlines — was involved in turbulence-related injuries. In that instance, seven passengers on the last leg of a flight from Tel Aviv to Newark had to be hospitalized due to injuries incurred during the shakiness experienced on the 787 jet as it passed through high winds, though all appeared to be alright after getting checked out.
While it's hard to tell how much of this year's bad press is confirmation bias, it nevertheless is making people afraid to fly — and especially afraid to fly Boeing.
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