One person was killed and several others were injured on a Singapore Airlines flight from London to Singapore that encountered severe turbulence.
The Boeing 777-300ER was diverted to Bangkok and landed at 15:45 local time (08:00 GMT). There were 211 passengers and 18 crew members on board flight SQ 321, the airline said in a statement.
The company expressed its deepest condolences to the family of the deceased. The report also states that the company is cooperating with Thai authorities to provide medical assistance to passengers and is sending a team to Bangkok to provide any additional assistance required, the BBC Russian Service reports.
В ;at Suvarnabhumi Airport the plane was met by ambulances and rescue teams.
Thai broadcaster Thai PBS reported that more than 20 people on board the plane were injured as a result of the turbulence. Authorities have not yet confirmed the exact number of victims.
Some passengers were given first aid due to head injuries, the television company reports.
One of the passengers on the flight, 28-year-old Dzafran Azmir, said to Reuters how events developed.
“The plane suddenly tilted, it shook, suddenly there was a sharp fall” – all those sitting and not wearing seat belts immediately flew up to the ceiling.
“Some hit their heads on the luggage racks like this so much that there were dents there, they hit the places where the lamps and masks are located. they were pierced right through,” recalls Azmir.
Singapore Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat said the government would provide assistance to passengers and their families.
It is not yet clear what exactly happened on board the airliner.
“There is an assumption that the plane hit an air pocket and then made an emergency landing,” said Sky News correspondent Cordelia Lynch, who is at Bangkok airport.
The Associated Press analyzed data obtained from the flight tracking service FlightRadar24. According to these data, at about 8 a.m. GMT, the Boeing 777 suddenly descended 6,000 feet (almost two kilometers), from 37,000 to 31,000 in three minutes.
Prepared by: Nina Petrovich