An Adelaide man on an international trip with his wife has described the terrifying feeling of free-falling as Singapore Airline pilots navigated severe turbulence during a nightmare flight this week.
Hallet Cove man, John Hall, was returning to home from a holiday in Iceland with his wife, Jenny, on the flight from London to Singapore on Tuesday when the plane hit severe turbulence and plummeted almost 2000m within a few minutes.
One person died of a heart attack and dozens were injured during the incident, which the airline said happened “suddenly” about 10 hours into the flight.
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The plane had 56 Australians on board when it was forced to make an emergency landing in Bangkok.
Hall compared the feeling when the plane dropped to “jumping off a building”.
He became emotional as he remembered babies in basinets being thrown through the cabin.
He said one parent had lost their baby for a few minutes after the child was thrown into another aisle.
“Another couple I spoke with, the mother put her hands above the child just to protect it and lucky she did because when the drop occurred, the child just flew into her hands. She was able to save it,” Hall said.
He said another passenger who was lying across a seat was thrown to the roof and then hit the floor.
“(There was) blood all over the place. Blood down seat. One man held on to the base of his seat because he didn’t have a seat belt, and he just went flying to the floor and had a head injury.”
Hall said he and his wife had their seatbelts strapped, which saved them from being injured.
“For the people in the seatbelts that was it, and then it was a sudden realisation when you looked around afterwards and just saw the havoc everywhere and that’s when people started yelling out and saying ‘I need help’,” he said.
“It’s made me an obsessive, compulsive seatbelt person. I think I checked my seatbelt about 20 times.
“It’s certainly taught me when you fly, there is a reason you put your bag under the front seat and there is a reason not to have things like cameras just flying around.”
Aviation experts said many injuries could have been prevented if more passengers were wearing seatbelts.
Another Adelaide man said his wife could be in a Bangkok hospital for several weeks after being injured.
The woman was standing up when the plane dropped, and her husband told the ABC she was “not in a good way”.
Hall praised Singapore Airlines’ handling of the incident and said staff had booked them into a hotel and given them meal vouchers.
Staff also escorted passengers from the airport to their hotel in case they required assistance.
“They had the chief executive come on board and spoke with us from Singapore Airlines. They had about 50 staff lining the passengers as we walked off the plane, offering their good wishes,” Hall said.
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 on Wednesday.
“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.”
– With AAP and Hannah Foord