‘Hell broke loose’: Passengers relive Singapore Airlines terror after bloodied travellers were tossed around like dolls
TRAUMATISED passengers on the horror flight that killed one Brit granddad and injured 30 others have recalled the hellish ordeal.
One traveller told of how everything was “perfectly normal” before the Singapore Airlines Boeing 777 plane suddenly dropped out of the sky and “all hell broke loose”.
Flight SQ321 had taken off from London Heathrow shortly after 10pm on Monday, with 229 passengers and crew, when the packed jet was hit with “severe turbulence” on Tuesday morning.
Passengers were flung from their seats into the ceiling of the plane, leaving dents and blood stains on overhead lockers.
Brit granddad Geoff Kitchen, 73, died of a suspected heart attack as dozens of other passengers suffered injuries including broken bones, with 30 people in hospital as of yesterday, according to Singapore Airlines.
One passenger, 28-year-old student Dzafran Azmir, said the plane began “tilting up” and shaking before there was a “dramatic” drop and those not wearing a seatbelt were “launched immediately into the ceiling”.
He told Reuters: “I saw people from across the aisle going completely horizontal, hitting the ceiling and landing back down in like really awkward positions.
“People getting massive gashes in the head, concussions.”
He added: “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.”
The London–Singapore flight had been cruising at 38,000ft when it rapidly plunged to 31,000ft near the Andaman Sea as it approached Thailand, flight tracker FlightRadar24 information indicated.
Passenger Andrew Davies, who had been travelling to New Zealand for business, recalled the flight as being “quite smooth” without “any turbulence” before the seatbelt sign suddenly lit up.
He fastened his seatbelt, telling CNN: “Thank goodness I did because within moments of doing that, all hell broke loose.
“The plane just felt like it dropped. It probably only lasted a few seconds, but I remember vividly seeing shoes and iPads and iPhones and cushions and blankets and cutlery and plates and cups flying through the air and crashing to the ceiling.
“The gentleman next to me had a cup of coffee, which went straight all over me and up to the ceiling.”
Shocking images taken inside the plane showed food, cups, water pitchers, and cutlery strewn across the galley kitchen – and ceiling panels broken with piping hanging loose.
Many passengers had been eating breakfast when the plane was smashed by turbulence.
Sitting right behind Davies was granddad Geoff Kitchen.
Davies recalled there being “so much screaming” as passengers tended to Kitchen, carried him out of his seat, and administered CPR.
Another nearby passenger had “a big gash in her head and blood pouring down her face”, he said.
He told Good Morning Britain: “I heard the screaming and saw a lady absolutely covered in blood with a huge cut on her head sitting in the row behind me.
“If I hadn’t had my seatbelt on, there’s no doubt I would have been badly injured.”
'I love you all', reads terrified passenger's text
By Juliana Cruz Lima, Foreign News Reporter
A TERRIFIED passenger onboard the horror Singapore Airlines flight sent an emotional text as the Boeing jet plunged 7,000 feet during a deadly turbulence.
On his way to a holiday in Bali, traveller Josh texted what he thought could be his final words to his loved ones.
Mum Allison Barker described the hours of desperate wait after getting a chilling message from her son at 9.10 this morning.
“I don’t want to scare you, but I’m on a crazy flight. The plane is making an emergency landing… I love you all,” Josh’s text read.
Allison told the BBC: “‘It was terrifying. I didn’t know what was going on.
“We didn’t know whether he’d survived, it was so nerve wracking. It was the longest two hours of my life.
“It was awful; it was petrifying.”
When she finally got through to her son, Josh assured her he was safe.
But he confessed he had some minor injuries to his teeth, adding he was “in a lot of pain.”
One terrified passenger, Josh Barker, sent an emotional text to his mum mid-flight which read: “I don’t want to scare you, but I’m on a crazy flight.
“The plane is making an emergency landing… I love you all.”
The plane was diverted to Bangkok after the tragic turbulence and 143 passengers and crew were flown to Singapore, where Singapore Airlines CEO Goh Choon Phong said they landed early this morning.
Seventy-nine passengers and six crew members, including those receiving medical care and their family members, remain in Bangkok.
Among the many injured are citizens from Australia, Malaysia, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Spain, the United States and Ireland, according to the hospital where they were treated.
Kitchen’s autopsy process is ongoing, although early investigations suggested he suffered a heart condition.
Other passengers suffered broken arms, cuts, and bruises, said the general manager of the Bangkok airport, Kittipong Kittikachorn.
CEO Goh said Singapore Airlines was “deeply saddened by this incident” and “very sorry for the traumatic experience” passengers endured as he extended his condolences to Kitchen’s loved ones.
Singapore’s Ministry of Transport is investigating.