More than 140 passengers and crew from a Singapore Airlines flight, hit by severe turbulence that left dozens injured and one dead, finally reached Singapore on a relief flight Wednesday morning after an emergency landing in Bangkok.
Those on board SQ321 are now recounting the “absolute terror” they felt when the aircraft was hit by the turbulence.
The flight was carrying 56 people from Australia and 47 from the UK, with at least three Indians.
Singapore Airlines horror
Recalling the two hours she spent petrified after her son, Josh, sent her a text from the flight, Allison Barker told BBC, “One minute, he was just sitting down wearing a seatbelt, the next minute, he must have blacked out because he found himself on the floor with other people.”
In his text Josh had written, “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, who was on his way to Bali, sustained minor injuries. However, Allison is concerned that being this close to death might have a lasting impact on him.
Another passenger, Jerry, said that the people on board did not receive any warning before the plane dropped thousands of feet in the air. He was on the flight with his wife and son. All of them were travelling to Australia for the son’s wedding.
In an interaction with the BBC, Jerry recalled that both him and his wife hit the ceiling during the turbulence and some people who were walking around started doing somersaults.
“My son was thrown down on the floor two rows behind me. I heard that there was a guy hitting the roof in the toilet and he was injured quite badly, too,” Jerry said from a Thai hospital.
A passenger from Singapore said his son, who was returning from London with his girlfriend, “thrown all over the place” when he was going to the restroom. Luckily, the couple is all right.
‘People went completely horizontal’
A 28-year-old student, Dzafran Azmir, who was on the flight, said, “I saw people from across the aisle going completely horizontal, hitting the ceiling and landing back down in like really awkward positions”
Azmir said several passengers had massive gashes on their head and got concussed.
Singapore Airlines CEO apologises
Singapore Airlines CEO Goh Choon Phong has issued a public apology following a tragic incident. “On behalf of Singapore Airlines, I would like to express my deepest condolences to the family and loved ones of the deceased. We are very sorry for the traumatic experience that everyone on board SQ321 went through,” Phong said.
Following the incident, a relief flight brought 143 passengers and crew members from SQ321 to Singapore. Over 70 passengers and six crew members, including those receiving medical care and their family members, stayed in Bangkok.