BANGKOK — Passengers on the Singapore Airlines flight that descended sharply after hitting severe turbulence described the "sheer terror" of the aircraft shuddering, loose items flying and people wrenched so badly that 20 remained Wednesday in intensive care.
"I arrived back in the airport and I couldn't stop vomiting. I couldn't walk, it was pretty bad," said Josh Silverstone, 24, who was discharged from a hospital with a cut in his eye and a chipped tooth. He said it could have been "way worse."
The British man said he was so scared, he bought in-flight internet access to message his mother: "I wasn't trying to scare her, but I said 'I love you.'"
Josh Silverstone of Britain, who was injured during a Singapore Airlines Boeing 777-300ER flight, talks to reporters Wednesday at Samitivej Srinakarin Hospital in Bangkok, Thailand.
Cause of turbulence unclear
It was still not clear what exactly caused the turbulence that sent the Boeing 777 carrying 211 passengers and 18 crew members on a 6,000-foot descent in about three minutes Tuesday. The flight from London to Singapore was diverted to Thailand.
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A British man died. Thai officials withheld his name, but British media identified him as Geoffrey Kitchen, 73, who was going on a six-week holiday with his wife. A Thai airport official said Kitchen might have had a heart attack, though that hadn't been confirmed.
Aviation investigators arrived Wednesday in Bangkok. Singapore Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat said the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board would send technical advisers because the incident involved a Boeing plane.
The Boeing 777-300ER aircraft of Singapore Airlines is parked Wednesday, a day after the flight that encountered severe turbulence, at Suvarnabhumi International Airport near Bangkok, Thailand.
Singapore Airlines said 131 passengers and 12 crew members from Flight SQ321 who were well enough to travel were picked up on a special flight and arrived early Wednesday at Singapore's Changi Airport.
Six crew members and 79 passengers stayed in Bangkok, where the majority remained in the hospital, Singapore Airlines CEO Goh Choon Phong said.
Samitivej Srinakarin Hospital, where most of the injured were taken, said the 20 people in intensive care include six Britons, six Malaysians, three Australians, two Singaporeans and one person each from Hong Kong, New Zealand and the Philippines.
British Embassy staff members arrive Wednesday at Samitivej Srinakarin Hospital in Bangkok, Thailand, to visit passengers from Britain injured in a flight that hit severe turbulence the prior day over the Indian Ocean.
Passengers describe 'very traumatic experience'
Passenger Beverley Mayers, who was not injured, described the situation inside the plane as "sheer terror."
"The whole plane was shuddering … great pieces were falling off and dropping on the floor, people getting hit in the head," she told Australia's TV Channel 9 on arrival at Sydney airport.
Newlyweds Ali and Ramiza Bukhari, who were flying back from their honeymoon, told reporters at Sydney Airport they were relieved to be back home.
"It was a very, very traumatic experience," Ali Bukhari said.
Members of a rescue team converse Tuesday in Bangkok, Thailand, after a London-Singapore flight was diverted there due to severe turbulence.
Most people associate turbulence with heavy storms, but the most dangerous type is so-called clear air turbulence. Wind shear can occur in wispy cirrus clouds or even in clear air near thunderstorms, as differences in temperature and pressure create powerful currents of fast-moving air.
The U.S.-based Association of Flight Attendants said clear air turbulence is virtually undetectable with current technology. "One second, you're cruising smoothly; the next, passengers, crew and unsecured carts or other items are being thrown around the cabin," it said.
"Always follow crew instructions and wear your seatbelt whenever seated. It is a matter of life and death," it added.
