SEOUL (Reuters) – Singapore Airways (OTC:) has tweaked its in-flight seatbelt signal insurance policies and altered no less than one flight route after a turbulence incident this week killed one individual and left dozens extra hospitalised, in keeping with the airline and flight knowledge.
The airline is adopting a extra cautious method to turbulence, together with not serving sizzling drinks or meals when the seat belt signal is on, it mentioned in a press release to Singapore broadcaster Channel Information Asia.
“SIA will proceed to evaluate our processes, as the security of our passengers and crew is of utmost significance,” it mentioned.
The airline didn’t reply to a Reuters request for remark.
The SQ321 London-Singapore flight on a Boeing (NYSE:) 777-300ER airplane carrying 211 passengers and 18 crew diverted to Bangkok for an emergency touchdown on Tuesday after the airplane was buffeted by turbulence that flung passengers and crew across the cabin, slamming some into the ceiling.
The each day London to Singapore route SQ321 has accomplished two flights because the incident and never flown over the a part of Myanmar the place the sudden turbulence occurred about 3 hours earlier than scheduled touchdown. The flight time is about the identical, monitoring knowledge present.
They flew as an alternative over the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea, route knowledge from flight tracker FlightRadar 24 exhibits.
Singapore Airways has mentioned the airplane on Tuesday encountered sudden excessive turbulence. A 73-year-old British passenger died of a suspected coronary heart assault.
Images from contained in the airplane confirmed gashes within the overhead cabin panels, oxygen masks and panels hanging from the ceiling and baggage strewn round. A passenger mentioned some individuals’s heads had slammed into the lights above the seats and damaged the panels.
As of late Thursday, 46 passengers and two crew members have been hospitalised in Bangkok; 19 others have been nonetheless in Bangkok, the airline mentioned.
Twenty of the 46 remained in intensive care, an official at Bangkok’s Samitivej Srinakarin Hospital mentioned on Thursday, including that the injured had a mixture of spinal wire, mind and cranium accidents.
Singapore Airways, which is broadly recognised as one of many world’s main airways and is seen as a benchmark for a lot of the business, has not had any main incidents in recent times.
