- Harris, Trump and Biden mark Oct. 7 attacks as US election looms
- US judge orders Google to open Android to rival app stores
- On attacks anniversary, Israel fights 'sacred' multi-front war
- Nobel scientist uncovered tiny genetic switches with big potential
- Grammy-winning Cissy Houston, mother of Whitney, dies at 91
- UN biodiversity summit in Colombia aims to turn words into action
- Georgia Supreme Court reinstates six-week abortion ban
- 'Dark day': Victims mourned around the globe on Oct. 7 anniversary
- On attacks anniversary, Israel fights multi-front war
- Intensifying to Category 5, Hurricane Milton targets Florida
- Biden, Harris mark Oct. 7 with call for Mideast peace
- Dupont set for Toulouse return after post-Olympic holiday
- French rugby bosses tighten discipline after nightmare Argentina tour
- Visitors to get rare view of Rome's Trevi Fountain
- Man City and Premier League both claim victory in legal case
- Deschamps delight as 'light back on' for Pogba after doping ban
- Biden, Harris urge Mideast peace on Oct. 7 anniversary
- Neeskens, tough midfielder in Cruyff's Ajax and Dutch teams
- UN warns world's water cycle becoming ever more erratic
- Oil prices extend gains on Mideast tensions, Wall Street retreats
- Ex-Dutch football star Johan Neeskens dies
- Man Utd battling to improve fortunes, says Evans
- What is microRNA? Nobel-winning discovery explained
- Masood, Abdullah centuries lift Pakistan to 328-4 in first England Test
- Hurricane Milton strengthens fast, threatens Mexico, Florida
- Tunisia's President Saied set for landslide election win
- Barca hoping to return to Camp Nou 'by end of year'
- Trump to open second golf course at Scotland resort in summer 2025
- Super-sub Jhon Duran rewarded with new Aston Villa deal
- US duo win Nobel for gene regulation breakthrough
- Masood hits first ton for four years to power Pakistan to 233-1
- Fritz wins delayed match to reach Shanghai Masters third round
- Naomi Osaka pulls out of Japan Open with back injury
- China to flesh out economic stimulus plans after bumper rally
- Artist Marina Abramovic hopes first China show offers tech respite
- Pakistan 122-1 at lunch in first England Test
- Kazakhs approve plan for first nuclear power plant
- World marks anniversary of Oct. 7 attack on Israel
- 'Second family': tennis stars hunt winning formula with new coaches
- Philippines, South Korea agree to deepen maritime cooperation
- Mexico mayor murdered days after taking office
- Sardinia's sheep farmers battle bluetongue as climate warms
- Japan govt admits doctoring 'untidy' cabinet photo
- Israel marks first anniversary of Hamas's October 7 attack
- Darvish tames Ohtani as Padres thrash Dodgers
- Asian markets track Wall St rally on jobs data
- Family affair as LeBron, Bronny James make Lakers bow
- Cancer, cardiovascular drugs tipped for Nobel as prize week opens
- As Great Salt Lake dries, Utah Republicans pardon Trump climate skepticism
- Amazon activist warns of 'critical situation' ahead of UN forum
RBGPF | -1.97% | 58.94 | $ | |
CMSC | -0.53% | 24.57 | $ | |
RYCEF | -1.45% | 6.88 | $ | |
SCS | -0.15% | 12.95 | $ | |
RIO | -0.11% | 69.62 | $ | |
GSK | -0.49% | 38.63 | $ | |
NGG | -1.56% | 65.48 | $ | |
BCC | 1.68% | 141.27 | $ | |
AZN | -0.78% | 76.87 | $ | |
CMSD | -0.09% | 24.79 | $ | |
BCE | -0.54% | 33.53 | $ | |
JRI | -0.76% | 13.18 | $ | |
VOD | 0.31% | 9.69 | $ | |
RELX | -0.54% | 46.04 | $ | |
BP | 0.78% | 33.14 | $ | |
BTI | -0.26% | 35.2 | $ |
20 people in intensive care after turbulent Singapore Airlines flight
Twenty people were in intensive care in Bangkok hospitals on Wednesday after a terrifying high-altitude plunge on a flight from London during which an elderly passenger died and more than 100 were injured.
Singapore Airlines flight SQ321 hit "sudden extreme turbulence" over Myanmar 10 hours into its journey to Singapore on Tuesday, abruptly rising and plunging several times.
One passenger said people were thrown around the cabin so violently they put dents in the ceiling during the drama at 11,300 metres (37,000 feet), leaving dozens with head injuries.
Photos from inside the plane show the cabin in chaos, strewn with food, drinks bottles and luggage, and with oxygen masks dangling from the ceiling.
The plane, carrying 211 passengers and 18 crew, made an emergency landing at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport, where medical staff used gurneys to ferry the injured to ambulances waiting on the tarmac.
"I was flung up to the roof and then as the plane dropped forward so did I," one passenger told Australian media on Wednesday after arriving in Sydney.
"I then hit the floor quite hard and all the breakfast items and glass flew forward as well.
"The poor crew was preparing breakfast for everyone, so they got the worst injuries."
A 73-year-old British man died and 104 people were injured on the flight.
A hospital in Bangkok said Wednesday its staff were treating, or had treated 85 of those injured, including 20 people who were currently in intensive care units.
The 20 were from Australia, Britain, Hong Kong, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore and the Philippines, Samitivej hospital said, without specifying how many were passengers or crew.
A relief flight carrying 131 passengers and 12 crew landed at Singapore's Changi Airport on Wednesday morning.
Relieved relatives greeted the arrivals with hugs, but all were too shaken to talk to waiting reporters.
Andrew Davies, a British passenger aboard the Boeing 777-300ER, told BBC radio that the plane "suddenly dropped" and there was "very little warning".
"During the few seconds of the plane dropping, there was an awful screaming and what sounded like a thud," he said, adding that he helped a woman who was "screaming in agony" with a "gash on her head".
Separately, he told a BBC podcast he feared the plane was going to crash.
"Remembering the plane now -- the huge dents in the roof that people had obviously hit with their head. There was a water bottle stuck in a gap in the ceiling," he said.
Singapore Airlines chief executive Goh Choon Phong said Wednesday the carrier is "very sorry for the traumatic experience" endured by those on board, and expressed condolences to the family of the deceased.
- 'Crazy flight' -
Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong sent his "deepest condolences" to the family and loved ones of the dead man -- identified as Geoff Kitchen, a musical theatre director from near Bristol.
The city-state is sending investigators to Bangkok to probe the incident and Wong posted on Facebook that they were "working closely with Thai authorities".
Of the passengers, 56 were Australian, 47 British and 41 Singaporean, according to the airline.
Malaysia's foreign ministry said nine of its nationals were hospitalised, including one in a critical but stable condition.
An AFP photographer saw people in Singapore Airlines yellow vests entering the plane on Wednesday as it remained grounded in Bangkok.
"In terms of exactly what happened, it's too early to tell. But I think passengers are too casual on board commercial aircraft," US-based aerospace safety expert Anthony Brickhouse told AFP.
"The moment the captain turns off the seatbelt sign, people literally unbuckle."
Davies, the passenger, said "the plane suddenly dropped" at the very moment a seatbelt sign came on.
Allison Barker told the BBC her son Josh, who was aboard the plane, texted her that he was on "a crazy flight" that was making an emergency landing.
Scientists have long warned that climate change is likely to increase so-called clear air turbulence, which is invisible to radar.
A 2023 study found the annual duration of clear air turbulence increased by 17 percent from 1979 to 2020, with the most severe cases increasing more than 50 percent.
F.Carias--PC