Mum reveals text she received from son onboard flight hit by turbulence that killed one
One person has died and many more were injured after a flight from London to Singapore encountered severe turbulence and had to make an emergency landing in Thailand.
211 passengers and 18 crew members had been on board the plane, and a 73-year-old British passenger lost their life.
People on board the plane said things became 'chaotic' when the aircraft suffered a 'dramatic drop' and they saw passengers 'launched into the ceiling' very suddenly.
The passenger jet was forced to divert to Suvarnabhumi Airport, Bangkok, at 3:45pm local time, making it 9:45am UK time, today (21 May) and airport head Kittipong Kittikachorn explained that the deceased man had a heart condition and may have suffered a 'possible heart attack'.
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Kittikachorn said that seven other people were in a critical condition and several others were being treated for injuries.
Around half-an-hour before the plane made an emergency landing a woman got a text from her son, who was on board the plane, to tell her what had happened.
Allison Barker told the BBC that after receiving the message from her son Josh, she then didn't hear from him for another two hours.
He wrote: "I don't want to scare you, but I'm on a crazy flight. The plane is making an emergency landing… I love you all."
She said it was 'terrifying' to get a message like that and not know what was going on, giving her 'the longest two hours of my life' as she didn't know what had happened to her son.
When Josh did get back in contact with his mum he told her that one minute he'd been sitting down with his seatbelt on and the next moment he woke up on the floor with a lot of other people.
Josh told his mum that there was water, blood and people's possessions strewn about the aircraft's cabin.
He did suffer some injuries, with his mum saying she thought he had some broken teeth, but Allison was worried that the real impact would go beyond physical for her son.
Another passenger on board, Andrew Davies, described an 'awful screaming and what sounded like a thud' as the plane dropped sharply.
He said that there were 'so many injured people' and praised the work done by the cabin crew who 'did everything they could' to help in the terrifying situation.
Student Dzafran Azmir was also on board the plane, who explained that 'everyone not wearing a seatbelt was launched immediately into the ceiling'.
Topics: Travel, World News
Joe Harker