Singapore Airlines turbulence – latest: British man killed in incident named as Geoffrey Kitchen

It is not a rare occurrence to meet big thunderstorms in the Bay of Bengal, said an airline pilot who regularly flies to Singapore and Southeast Asia. “There are always the chances of bumps.”

The pilot declined to be identified because he is not authorised to speak to the media.

“We were about 30 miles off track flying around the thunderstorms two days ago on the way to Singapore,” the pilot told Reuters.

Turbulence has many causes, most obviously the unstable weather patterns that trigger storms, but this flight could have been affected by clear air turbulence, which is difficult to detect.

Rapidly developing, explosive thunderstorms near the flight path of Singapore Airlines flight 321 most likely contributed to violent turbulence, said Weather forecasting service AccuWeather.

“Developing thunderstorms often have strong updrafts, a zone of upward moving air, that rises very rapidly, sometimes at more than 100 mph, and can leave pilots will little time to react if it occurs directly in front of the plane,” said Dan DePodwin, AccuWeather’s senior director of forecasting operations.

Aircraft tracking provider FlightRadar 24 said that the flight encountered “a rapid change in vertical rate, consistent with a sudden turbulence event”, based on flight tracking data.

“There were thunderstorms, some severe, in the area at the time,” it said.

The chief executive of Singapore Airlines posted a video message offering his condolences for the death of British national Geoffrey Kitchen.

“On behalf of Singapore Airlines, I would like to express my deepest condolences to the family and loved ones of the deceased,” CEO Goh Choon Phong said.

A passenger on board the Singapore Airlines flight has recounted the terrifying moment when passengers were thrown up from their seats during the severe turbulence.

“I saw people from across the aisle going completely horizontal, hitting the ceiling and landing back down in like really awkward positions,” Dzafran Azmir, a 28-year-old student, told Reuters after arriving in Singapore.

“People, like, getting massive gashes in the head, concussions.”

A theatre group has paid tribute to its “esteemed” director Geoffrey Kitchen who died on board the Singapore Airlines flight.

In a statement issued on social media on Tuesday night, the Thornbury Musical Theatre Group said: “It is with a heavy heart that we learn of the devastating news of the passing of our esteemed colleague and friend Geoff Kitchen in the recent Singapore Air Incident.

“Geoff was always a gentleman with the utmost honesty and integrity and always did what was right for the group.

“His commitment to TMTG was unquestionable and he has served the group and the local community of Thornbury for over 35 years, holding various offices within the group, including Chairman, Treasurer and most recently Secretary.

“Our thoughts and prayers go out to his wife and the family at this difficult time, and we ask that you respect their privacy.”

More than 140 passengers and crew from a Singapore Airlines flight hit by heavy turbulence that left dozens injured and one dead finally reached Singapore on a relief flight this morning after an emergency landing in Bangkok.

The scheduled London-Singapore flight on a Boeing 777-300ER plane diverted to Bangkok after the plane was buffeted by turbulence that flung passengers and crew around the cabin, slamming some into the ceiling.

A 73-year-old British passenger died of a suspected heart attack, and at least 30 people were injured.

Photographs from the interior of the plane showed gashes in the overhead cabin panels, oxygen masks and panels hanging from the ceiling and luggage strewn around. A passenger said some people’s heads had slammed into the lights above the seats and broken the panels.

Singapore Airlines took 131 passengers and 12 crew on the relief flight from Bangkok, which reached Singapore just before 5am (2100 GMT). There were 211 passengers including many Australians, British and Singaporeans, and 18 crew onboard the original flight; injured fliers and their families remained in Bangkok.

A passenger who was on the Boeing 777-300ER plane said that the incident involved the sensation of rising then falling.

“Suddenly the aircraft starts tilting up and there was shaking so I started bracing for what was happening, and very suddenly there was a very dramatic drop so everyone seated and not wearing a seatbelt was launched immediately into the ceiling,” Dzafran Azmir, a 28-year-old student on board the flight told Reuters.

“Some people hit their heads on the baggage cabins overhead and dented it, they hit the places where lights and masks are and broke straight through it,” he said.

Some tallies of the injured out of the 211 passengers and 18 crew on the Singapore Airlines flight differed.

The airline said 18 were hospitalised and 12 are being treated in hospitals, while Samitivej Hospital said it was treating 71 passengers.