A mother has shared her anguish after receiving a text message from her son during a horrifying incident in which a Singapore Airlines flight travelling from London to Singapore plummeted 2000m after hitting turbulence on Tuesday.
The Boeing 777-300ER suddenly dropped from 11,300m to 9400m over the span of three minutes when it was believed to have hit an air pocket as the cabin crew were serving breakfast and requested an emergency landing at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport at 3.35pm.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Singapore Airlines flight forced to make emergency landing.
One man died of a heart attack in the incident, while 71 people were hospitalised, six of whom were in serious conditions according to Thailand’s Samitivej Hospital.
Allison Barker said her son Josh was on the flight en route to Bali when she received a message from him.
“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.”
Barker said after the message, there was silence as she waited for a “petrifying” two hours before she was able to contact him again.
“One minute, he was just sitting down wearing a seatbelt, the next minute, he must have blacked out because he found himself on the floor with other people,” she told the BBC.
Barker said her son sustained only minor injuries, however she was concerned the brush with death could have a lasting impact on him.
On Wednesday morning, Australian Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil appeared on Sunrise with an update on the injured passengers.
“We know that there were 56 Australians onboard, and we’ve just had information that at least eight of those Australians are actually in hospital in Bangkok, having injuries tended to,” O’ Neil said.
“This is a terrible experience that these people have gone through. As usual, the Australian Government will provide consular assistance wherever we can, wherever it’s needed to those people.”
British grandfather and musical theatre director Geoffrey Kitchen, 73, reportedly died of a heart attack during the incident, prompting an apology from Singapore Airlines.
“Singapore Airlines offers its deepest condolences to the family of the deceased. We deeply apologise for the traumatic experience that our passengers and crew members suffered on this flight,” the airline said.