KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysian student Dzafran Azmir was onboard Singapore Airlines flight SQ321 from London to Singapore that hit severe air turbulence yesterday, and fortunately, had his seat belt on.
However, many other passengers did not, and the 28-year-old saw them thrown upwards to the aircraft’s ceiling, he told Reuters.
“Some people hit their heads on the baggage cabins overhead and dented them; they hit the places where lights and masks are and broke straight through them,” he was quoted as saying.
Dzafran said the drop when the Boeing 777-300R plane plummeted 6,000ft in five minutes was very sudden with no warning.
He said he felt the plane tilt upward and begin to shake as it hit turbulence. His phone flew out of his hand and he also saw shoes flung about.
Dzafran was among 16 Malaysian passengers on SQ321, which carried 211 passengers and 18 crew and hit the air pocket over the Irrawaddy Basin when it was about three hours from landing in Singapore.
It diverted to Bangkok to make an emergency landing at Suvarnabhumi Airport, where Dzafran said it took emergency rescue and medical teams one and a half hours to evacuate everyone due to the injuries that many sustained.
Dzafran said he saw at least 8 people removed from the plane on stretchers.
“There were a lot of spinal and head injuries,” he said, adding that he believed those who were inside lavatories when the plane hit turbulence could have been hurt the most.
One person, a British man, aged 73, died on the flight, likely of a heart attack, according to airport officials. He was on a six-week holiday around the region with his wife.
Singapore Airlines, meanwhile, said it transported 143 passengers and crew who were able to travel on a relief flight to Singapore this morning.
Another 79 passengers and six crew remain in Bangkok, including those receiving medical treatment as well as their family members who travelled with them. – May 22, 2024