A passenger on the Singapore Airlines flight that encountered extreme turbulence reported details of his harrowing experience on CNN on Tuesday.
The flight from London to Singapore, which took off on Monday evening, was forced to make an emergency landing in Bangkok after plunging 1,800 metres into the depths in about three minutes. A British man died and dozens of other passengers were injured.
Authorities said the man may have died of a heart attack. Six people are in critical condition in hospital.
Andrew Davies, one of the 211 passengers on board, told CNN’s Erin Burnett that the flight began without any problems. He had just eaten and watched a movie when he saw the seatbelt sign flash after nine or 10 hours of flight time.
He said he immediately fastened his seatbelt, “and thank God I did, because a few moments later all hell broke loose.”
“It felt like the plane just crashed. It probably only lasted a few seconds, but I vividly remember shoes and iPads and iPhones and pillows and blankets and cutlery and plates and cups flying through the air and hitting the ceiling,” he recalled.
When the plane reached altitude, Davies said, he turned around and saw a woman with a large gash on her head.
The deceased passenger was sitting directly behind him, he added.
“We attended to the gentleman and I helped carry him, get him out of the seat and we laid him on the ground so medical personnel could perform CPR … for at least 20 minutes,” Davies said, adding that the passenger was pronounced dead at the scene.
When the plane landed, local paramedics quickly came on board and cared for the injured, he said, adding that he was sitting next to the deceased’s wife, who was “in severe shock.”
Davies said many of the passengers had shown each other “extraordinary kindness” during the ordeal. Some had exchanged contact details and wanted to stay in touch after this shared, horrific experience.
The deceased was identified as Geoffrey Kitchen, 73, a musical director from southwest England. He was “a gentleman of the utmost honesty and integrity,” the Thornbury Musical Theatre Group in South Gloucestershire said in a statement.
