Two Spaniards are among the 211 passengers affected by the “strong turbulence” that hit a Singapore Airlines plane mid-flight, flying from London to Singapore on Tuesday, causing the death of a British man and 30 injuries.
A Spanish passenger suffered a concussion during the flight when he hit “the roof,” as he was not wearing a seat belt at the time of the sudden turbulence, and “he doesn’t have any fracture, it’s just a bruise,” according to what they told EFE sources close to the case.
In an update on the incident, the company issued a list with the nationalities of the passengers, the majority of whom were Australian (56), British (47) and Singaporean (41), among others. The airline, however, did not specify the nationalities of the injured, nor that of the 18 crew members.
The device, a Boeing 777-300 ER, left London’s Heathrow airport bound for the Asian city-state on Monday night, and during its route it suffered “sudden strong turbulence.” According to data from the FlightRadar portal, which records flights around the world, the Singapore Airlines plane suffered a sudden loss of altitude for 4 minutes, descending from 37,000 to 31,000 feet (from 11,200 meters to 9,400 meters). , when he apparently managed to stabilize.
After the incident, the pilot requested an emergency landing at Suvarnabhumi airport in Bangkok, where he arrived around 3:45 p.m. local time (8:45 GMT).
In a press conference, the director of the public company Thai Airports, Kittipong Kittikachorn, said that a 73-year-old British man died after suffering a heart attack and indicated that among the 30 injured there are six who are in serious condition. , 39 have moderate injuries and 26 have minor injuries, according to a statement last night from the Samitivej hospital in Bangkok. The patients are being treated in two centers of the aforementioned hospital in Bangkok.
“As for the plane, from the outside it seems fine. But inside it is a disaster. (…) They were served breakfast (when the air turbulence occurred), but most of the people I spoke to were sitting with their seat belts on,” Kittipong told the media. In a video published on social networks, you can see the interior of the plane with the roof partially fallen, hits on the upper luggage racks and the hallways full of blankets, papers and food packages, as well as traces of blood.
According to the FlightRadar portal, which records flights around the world, the device, a Boeing 777-300 ER, suffered a sudden loss of altitude for 4 minutes in which it descended from 37,000 to 31,000 feet (from 11,200 meters to 9,400 meters), when it apparently managed to stabilize.
Singapore Airlines has been recognized on several occasions as one of the best airlines and its last serious accident dates back to the year 2000, when a company aircraft collided during its takeoff maneuver on the wrong runway with a construction team at the Taiwan airport. causing the death of 83 passengers.