Passengers report “hell” in turbulence that caused death

Passengers on a Singapore Airlines flight hit by severe turbulence on Tuesday (21) described a sudden and dramatic crash as if “the gates of hell” were opening aboard the Boeing plane carrying 229 passengers and crew.

Flight SQ321 was cruising at 37,000 feet from London to Singapore when flight tracking data shows the plane dipped rapidly before climbing several hundred feet, then repeating the descent and ascent over about 90 seconds.

At first, “the flight was perfectly normal,” said passenger Andrew Davies, who was traveling to New Zealand for work. He described the flight as “pretty smooth… I don’t remember any turbulence.”

Many passengers were having breakfast at the time of the incident.

Then, about nine or ten hours into the flight, which would last approximately 13 hours, he was watching a movie when he saw the seat belt sign light up – so he put on his seat belt. “Thank God I did that, because right after I did that, the gates of hell opened,” he said. to CNN .

“The plane appeared to have crashed. It probably only lasted a few seconds, but I vividly remember seeing shoes, cell phones, tablets, pillows, blankets, cutlery, plates and cups flying through the air and crashing onto the ceiling. The man next to me was drinking a cup of coffee, which fell on me and went up to the ceiling,” Davies said.

Images of the plane show the cabin in disarray, with papers, cups and jugs of water scattered across the floor, and ceiling panels and pipes loose.

Davies was sitting at the front of the plane and witnessed some of the injuries suffered by dozens of passengers – including Geoff Kitchen, a 73-year-old British man who died during the flight.

“That gentleman was sitting right behind me,” he said. “A lot of people needed help, but we took care of this gentleman and I helped carry him, get him out of the seat and lay him on the floor so the doctors could administer CPR.”

Kitchen received CPR for about 20 minutes, Davies said. Meanwhile, he said, “there was a lot of screaming” and people’s injuries were evident; when he turned around, he saw a passenger with “a large gash on her head and blood running down her face” and another elderly passenger in a “severe state of shock.”

Another passenger, 28-year-old student Dzafran Azmir, told Reuters that the aircraft began to “tilt” and shake.

“Suddenly there was a very dramatic drop, so that everyone who was sitting and not wearing a seat belt was immediately thrown towards the ceiling,” he told Reuters. “Some people hit their heads on the luggage compartments and dented them, hitting the places where the lights and masks are and breaking the compartments.”

Azmir added that everything went “very, very quickly – which is why I don’t think anyone was able to really respond.” People didn't have time to react, he said — there were passengers in the plane's bathrooms and the crew was still standing when the turbulence began.

The plane was diverted to Bangkok after the incident. Of the 211 passengers and 18 crew on board the original flight, 143 were transported via a relief flight to Singapore, where they landed on Wednesday morning (22), according to Singapore Airlines CEO Goh Choon Phong in a video message posted on Facebook.

The remaining 79 passengers and 6 crew are still in Bangkok, including those receiving medical care and their families.

The injured included citizens of Australia, Malaysia, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Spain, the United States and Ireland, according to the hospital where they were treated.

Kittipong Kittikachorn, general manager of Bangkok airport, said on Tuesday (21) that preliminary investigations suggest that Kitchen was suffering from a heart problem and that the autopsy process is underway.

Several passengers suffered broken arms, but most of the injuries were cuts and bruises, he added.

Goh, the CEO, extended his condolences to Kitchen's family and loved ones, saying the airline was “deeply saddened by this incident” and was “very sorry for the traumatic experience” the passengers suffered.

The airline is cooperating with authorities in the investigation, he added.

Singapore's Ministry of Transport is investigating the incident, and said it has been in contact with its Thai counterparts and would send investigators to Bangkok. The US National Transportation Safety Board is also expected to send a team to Singapore to help with the investigation, including a board representative and four technical advisors.