Passengers and crew aboard a Singapore Airlines flight experienced severe skull, brain, and spinal injuries due to extreme turbulence, according to the head of a Bangkok hospital.
Flight SQ321 made an emergency landing in Bangkok on Tuesday after encountering intense turbulence over Asia, leaving twenty individuals in intensive care.
These patients include six Britons, six Malaysians, three Australians, two Singaporeans, and one person each from Hong Kong, New Zealand, and the Philippines.
The Boeing 777-300ER encountered what an airline representative described as “sudden extreme turbulence” over Myanmar, causing passengers and crew to be thrown around the cabin, with some hitting the ceiling.
Tragically, a 73-year-old British man lost his life, and 104 individuals sustained injuries.
The flight was en route from London to Singapore, carrying 211 passengers and 18 crew members.
Adinun Kittiratanapaibool, director of Bangkok’s Samitivej Srinakarin Hospital, reported that his team is treating six individuals for skull and brain injuries, 22 for spinal injuries, and 13 for various bone, muscle, and other injuries.
“We have never treated people with these kinds of injuries caused by turbulence,” he told reporters.
Seventeen surgeries have been conducted, including nine spinal surgeries.
Regarding the prognosis for the most severe cases, Adinun indicated it is too early to determine if any patients might suffer permanent paralysis.
Doctors need to monitor muscle function recovery post-surgery.
The injured range from ages two to 83.
One passenger recounted the violent nature of the turbulence, stating people were thrown around so forcefully they dented the cabin ceiling.
The Malaysian ambassador to Thailand, Jojie Samuel, mentioned that nine of the sixteen Malaysians on the flight are being treated in Bangkok hospitals, with five in ICU and one in critical but stable condition.
This critically injured individual is a crew member with multiple injuries to his head, back, and leg.
Passenger Josh Silverstone, a 24-year-old Briton heading to Bali, described the chaos, saying, “I fell on to the floor.
I didn’t realise what happened.
I must have hit my head somewhere. Everyone was screaming on the plane.
People were scared.”
He texted his mother during the incident to say “I love you” and was later treated for a head injury.
Singapore Airlines CEO Goh Choon Phong has issued an apology for the “traumatic experience” and extended condolences to the family of the deceased.
Photos from inside the plane after landing showed a chaotic scene with food, drinks, and luggage scattered and oxygen masks hanging from the ceiling.
A relief flight transported 131 passengers and 12 crew members to Singapore’s Changi Airport on Wednesday to continue their journeys or return home.