According to the airline, one person died and others were injured in severe turbulence on Singapore Airlines Flight 321 from London

Singapore Airlines said on Tuesday that one person died and others were injured when a flight from London to Singapore experienced severe turbulence. Flight SQ321 from London’s Heathrow Airport was diverted to Bangkok and landed at Suvarnabhumi Airport shortly before 4pm local time on Tuesday, the airline said in a statement posted on its Facebook page.

“We can confirm that there are injuries and one fatality on board the Boeing 777-300ER,” the statement said, adding that there were 211 passengers and 18 crew members on board the aircraft. CBS News’ affiliate network BBC News later reported that the fatality was a male British passenger, about 70 years old, who suffered a heart attack during the turbulence, but neither the airline nor Thai officials immediately confirmed those details .

The airline did not say how many people were injured, but Thai media reported that first responders treated about 30 people. A video from Suvarnabhumi Airport showed passengers coming down a ramp onto the tarmac from the plane surrounded by emergency vehicles.

Several people could be seen on a tarp under a tent in a triage area crowded with airport and medical staff.

The airline “expressed its deepest condolences to the family of the deceased” and said it would provide assistance to all passengers and crew on the flight.

Boeing also expressed its condolences to the family of the deceased passenger in a statement posted on social media. The US aerospace giant said it was in contact with Singapore Airlines and was ready to assist the airline in its investigation into the incident.

Tracking data from the FlightAware website showed the Singapore Airlines plane suddenly plummeted from an altitude of about 37,000 feet to 31,000 feet in just about five minutes. The crash occurred about 11 hours into the flight from London as the Boeing crossed the Andaman Sea and approached the Thai coast.

“All of a sudden the plane started pitching up and there was shaking so I braced myself for what was going to happen and then suddenly there was a very dramatic crash so everyone who was sitting and not wearing a seatbelt went straight into the were thrown from the ceiling,” passenger Dzafran Azmir told Reuters. “Some people hit their heads on the overhead racks, denting them. They hit the places where lights and masks are, breaking right through them.”

Another passenger, Andrew Davies, who spoke to BBC News about the harrowing flight on Tuesday, previously posted a series of messages on social media describing the incident.

“A terrible experience,” he said. “Many people were injured – including the flight attendants who were stoic and did everything they could.”

Davies said there was “hardly any warning” before the plane crashed, but the seatbelt warning light came on.

“I immediately strapped myself in, then the plane just crashed,” he said, describing the chaos in the cabin as people called for a defibrillator and passengers with medical training tried to help the injured.

“A member of the Singapore Airlines crew said it was by far the worst in their 30 years of flying,” Davies said in a tweet, adding: “The lesson is: ALWAYS wear a seatbelt. Anyone who was injured wasn’t wearing a seatbelt.”

While in-flight turbulence is becoming increasingly common on many routes, deaths and serious injuries are rare. Four People were injured caused by severe turbulence on a US domestic flight in Florida in July 2023.

Climatologists have warned travelers to prepare This leads to more flight delays and cancellations, as well as more frequent and severe turbulence, especially on routes over the world’s rapidly warming oceans Climate change.

CBS News climate producer Tracy Wholf says the impact of climate change on air travel is far broader than just increased turbulence Airports are affected by increased floodingextreme heat and precipitation hampering takeoffs and landings, and even an increase in airborne lightning strikes.