One dead and others injured after turbulence hits Singapore Airlines flight

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One passenger has died and several others have been injured after a Singapore Airlines flight between London and Singapore encountered “severe turbulence”.

The airline said that flight SQ321, which left London on Monday, diverted to Bangkok and landed safely on Tuesday afternoon.

“We can confirm that there are injuries and one fatality on board the Boeing 777-300ER,” Singapore Airlines said in a social media post.

“Our priority is to provide all possible assistance to all passengers and crew on board the aircraft,” it added. “We are working with the local authorities in Thailand to provide the necessary medical assistance, and sending a team to Bangkok to provide any additional assistance needed.”

There were a total of 211 passengers and 18 crew on board.

It was not immediately clear whether the airline flew into bad weather, or if the problems were caused by so-called “clear air turbulence”, which occurs in seemingly calm conditions.

While turbulence rarely causes deaths or endangers aircraft, it is the leading cause of non-fatal injuries to passengers and crew, according to the International Air Transport Association.

Researchers expect turbulence to worsen because of changes to weather patterns caused by climate change. In 2022, airline industry body Iata forecast that the frequency with which planes would encounter turbulence was likely to more than double in coming years, saying it would become “more severe and more damaging in its scale”.