Bristol student hospitalised after ‘hellish’ Singapore Airlines flight which killed one

A student in Bristol was a passenger flying on a Singapore Airlines plane who became hospitalised after the aircraft suddenly dropped 6,000ft in mid-air in three minutes.

The plummet was caused by extreme turbulence, which occurred on Monday evening (20th May). Flight SQ321 left London Heathrow at 10:17pm, but experienced turbulence over Myanmar, above the Andaman Sea off of Thailand’s coast.

Mia Stevenson, a 22-year-old student was “frozen with terror” in her seat, whilst 37,000ft in the air.

Sadly, there was one death after the accident, Geoffrey Kitchen, who was 73 years old. According to a spokesperson from Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport where the plane was diverted, Geoffrey was suspected to have had a heart attack mid-flight, the Mirror reports.

Mia was admitted to the hospital after her horrific experience. Whilst in her hospital bed, she told MailOnline: “I was partially asleep and the next thing I remember is I just flew upwards and crashed into the ceiling and then fell down really hard into the aisle.

“It was over in seconds and I didn’t know what was going on. I was very confused and just froze. I couldn’t understand what had happened. It was terrifying and I was shocked.”

Mia was taken to a hospital in Singapore after the captain regained control of the plane and landed at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport.

The student continued to tell her story of the incident, adding: “I hit my head really hard on the ceiling and had a lot of pain and throbbing. I’ve also had some X-rays but so far everything seems to be OK, and I’ve been given the all-clear by the doctors but the pain has not gone.”

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She added she was “lucky” her experience was not more serious, as many other passengers’ unfortunately were. Over 80 passengers were sent to the hospital with her, whilst 131 passengers and crew well enough arrived safely at Singapore’s Changi Airport early on Wednesday morning (22nd May).

Another traveller, 24-year-old Jon Silverstone, also spoke about his injuries on the flight. He said: “I’ve only a cut in my eye and a chipped tooth, it could be way worse. Everything was fine until I arrived back at the airport and I couldn’t stop vomiting. I couldn’t walk, it was pretty bad.

“I woke up on the floor, I didn’t realise what happened, I must’ve hit my head somewhere. There were people laying out on the floor.”

According to Singapore Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat, officers from Singapore’s Transport Safety Investigation Bureau have arrived in Bangkok. The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board has also sent a representative with four technical advisors to investigate the incident involving a Boeing plane, to discover how the severe turbulence sent the plane into a sudden plummet.

In response to this incident, Singapore Airlines said in a statement: “A Singapore Airlines team from Singapore has arrived in Bangkok to support our colleagues and the local authorities on the ground. We are providing all possible assistance to the passengers and crew on board SQ321, both at the hospital and the airport.”

Featured image via Martin Widenka on Unsplash & Mia Stevenson on Facebook. 

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