BANGKOK: A Singapore Airlines flight (SQ321) operating from London to Singapore reportedly suffered a nearly 6000 feet drop within minutes, amid severe turbulence. The incident resulted in death of 1 and injury to several passengers, as per multiple reports.
Disaster can strike anytime, even unanticipated, when in the air - sometimes rendering flight operators unable to issue a warning in time. Therefore, when in air it is recommended to always keep your seatbelts on, regardless of the 'seatbelt sign' being on or off.
The flight was in a Boeing 777-312 (ER) aircraft (9V-SWM).
It made an emergency landing at Suvarnabhumi Airport, Bangkok (BKK) around 3.45 pm after the incident, according to an update on Singapore Airlines' official Facebook page.
The SQ321 incident with a Boeing aircraft incidentally came hours after one John Barnett, an ex-Quality Control Manager at Boeing, died by suicide after raising safety concerns about Boeing's commercial planes.
Boeing continues to face criticism for ignoring safety concerns and retaliating against whistleblowers.
While several news reports claim on the basis of flight tracking data that the aircraft fell "6,000 ft within minutes", the exact height of the first sudden drop is unconfirmed.
"Suddenly the aircraft starts tilting up and there was shaking so I started bracing for what was happening, and very suddenly there was a very dramatic drop so everyone seated and not wearing seatbelt was launched immediately into the ceiling," Dzafran Azmir, a 28-year-old student on board the flight told Reuters.
"Some people hit their heads on the baggage cabins overhead and dented it, they hit the places where lights and masks are and broke straight through it," he added.
