Singapore Airlines deadly turbulence: Several hospitalised passengers undergo spinal surgery

The majority of the passengers and crew onboard the Singapore Airlines flight, that hit severe turbulence, suffered head and spinal injuries. 

Around 20 people still remain in the intensive care unit in Bangkok, where the passengers were rushed to after the flight made an emergency landing on Tuesday.

Two Singaporeans, six Malaysians, three Australians, six Malaysians and one person each from Hong Kong, New Zealand, and the Philippines were in ICU care, said the head of a Bangkok hospital.

The aircraft Boeing 777-300ER with a total of 211 passengers and 18 crew on board encountered severe turbulence over Myanmar, leaving a person dead and injuring over 30 passengers.

Adinun Kittiratanapaibool, director of Bangkok’s Samitivej Srinakarin hospital, said his staff were treating six people for skull and brain injuries, 22 for spinal injuries, and 13 for bone, muscle and other injuries.

So far, seventeen surgeries have been performed, including nine spinal and eight other injuries, he added.

The injured at the hospital range in age from 2-83 years old.

Meanwhile, the Malaysian ambassador to Thailand said that nine of the 16 Malaysians who were on the flight were being treated in a hospital in Bangkok.

Passengers recall the shock and chaos when the flight dropped 6,000 feet minutes from its cruising altitude after crossing the Bay of Bengal.

A relief flight took 131 passengers and 12 crew to Singapore’s Changi airport on Wednesday to continue their journeys or return home.