Dead on flight to Singapore: “Aggressive turbulence”

There are new details about the flight with a dead person on the London – Singapore route. The plane apparently dropped suddenly. Did the climate also play a role?

Images from the Reuters news agency show the chaos inside the plane after the emergency landing in the Thai capital. Yellow oxygen masks hang from the cabin ceiling. Dishes and empty plastic bottles lie scattered on the floor. The shock appears to have loosened parts of the interior paneling and bent the luggage rack lid.

Passenger Andrew Davies was on board the Singapore Airlines flight. He speaks of enormous turbulence in a telephone interview with BBC Radio5 Live: “The seat belt sign came on and I immediately buckled up.” At exactly that moment the plane sank. “What I remember most is the things flying through the air, coffee spilled all over me from the seat next to me.

The Boeing plane was on its way from London Heathrow to Singapore and, according to current information, ran into turbulence over the Indian Ocean. According to data from the FlightRadar24 website analyzed by the AP news agency, the plane sank more than 1,800 meters in a short period of time.

Andrew Davies says he has traveled a lot in his life and has experienced some turbulence. “But not nearly as much as this time,” he says. The plane ultimately made an emergency landing in Bangkok. Videos show ambulances waiting at the airport. Some patients are still being cared for in tents on the tarmac.

Elderly Briton dies on board

According to Singapore Airlines, 211 passengers and 18 crew members were on board. A 73-year-old Briton died on board. He probably had a heart attack, the BBC quoted statements at a press conference at the airport. There are also injured passengers.

Aviation expert John Strickland explains the danger of the situation on BBC News: “The problem is the speed at which something like this happens: when an actually stable flight loses altitude as quickly as this one does.” Because there are passengers on long-haul flights – like this one not always strapped in, but would also move around in the cabin, such as going to the toilet.

Climate change is making turbulence more intense

And: Not all turbulences could be detected on the radar, explains another aviation expert, Tim Atkinson. In an interview with Sky News he speaks of “aggressive turbulence”. According to Atkinson, climate change is also directly impacting aviation: “We are seeing turbulence become more frequent and more severe as a result of climate change.”

According to BBC News, a passenger from Germany was also on board.