Australians have begun returning home from a fatal Singapore Airlines flight where passengers were thrown around the plane’s cabin during a severe bout of turbulence.
The flight from London had 56 Australians on board when it was forced to make an emergency landing in Bangkok. At least eight were taken to hospital.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: New revelations uncovered over Singapore Airlines plane plunge
Relieved passengers returned to Sydney Airport on Wednesday night, with one woman describing the emotional toll of the ordeal.
Passenger Beverley Mayers – who was returning from a trip to visit her daughter in the United Kingdom – said it had been a “very emotional day” but she was “so grateful” to be back in Australia.
“When it happened I was really calm. It wasn’t until I got off the plane and sat in that room, since then I can’t stop crying,” the 81-year-old grandmother told reporters.
“My son has come to pick me up and I said to him ‘I have to stay with you tonight and see my other children, and just hold them close’.
“I think we all thought the plane was going to fall apart, I thought it was going to go in halves.”
Speaking from Samitivej Srinakarin Hospital in Thailand with her arm in a sling, Teandra Tukhumen said she was flung from her seat before she could comply with the crew’s seatbelt sign direction.
“I was asleep and then I was woken up because I was thrown to the roof and then the floor,” she told Sky News UK.
“It was just so quick. They had no warning whatsoever. The pilot saved our lives. We’re alive, so that’s all that matters.”
Geoffrey Kitchen, 73, died of a suspected heart attack and 30 other passengers were injured when the plane hit severe turbulence 10 hours into the flight, flinging people around the cabin as the plane plunged about 6000 feet within minutes.
Australian and International Pilots Association safety and technical director Steve Cornell, who has flown the same type of aircraft involved in the incident, said the level of turbulence experienced was uncommon.
“There are three categories of turbulence: light, medium and severe … severe turbulence is quite a rare occurrence,” he told AAP.
“You frequently encounter light and moderate turbulence, but severe turbulence is very rare… there would be a lot less injuries if passengers did keep their seatbelts fastened at all times, regardless of if the seatbelt sign is off or on.”
Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil said her thoughts were with those affected by the incident.
“This is a terrible experience that these people have gone through,” she told Sunrise.
“I know the embassy in Bangkok and the High Commission in Singapore are actively trying to contact those Australians … we will do everything we can to help.”
A Department of Foreign Affairs spokesperson said officials were making further inquiries to determine if other Australians were affected.
The flight from London hit an air pocket and dropped suddenly while en route to Singapore, prompting the pilot to request an emergency landing in Bangkok.
Passengers’ heads slammed into the lights above seats, breaking some of the panels, Reuters reported.
Singapore Airlines’ chief executive Goh Choon Phong said the company had expressed condolences to the family of the passenger who had died.
“We also deeply apologise for the trauma experienced by all passengers and crew members on this flight,” he said in a statement.