One dead as flight hits severe turbulence

A Singapore Airlines flight that made an emergency landing in Bangkok on Tuesday had fallen into an air pocket in Thai airspace before it encountered turbulence, with one man killed and seven people critically injured on board, a senior airport official said.

Suvarnabhumi Airport general manager Kittipong Kittikachorn told a press conference a 73-year-old British man died during the incident, likely due to a heart attack. Head injuries were sustained among seven people critically injured. One crew member was hospitalized, he said.

It is the latest drama involving a Boeing plane after a fuselage panel blew out of an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX in January, as well as two fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019.

Singapore Airlines said the flight took off from London’s Heathrow Airport and “encountered severe turbulence en route.’

A 73-year-old British man has died, and 30 others have been injured aboard a turbulent Singapore-bound flight that plunged 6,000 feet in a matter of minutes.