‘All hell broke loose’: Passengers on Singapore Airlines flight describe nightmare at 37,000 feet

CNN —

Passengers on a Singapore Airlines flight hit by severe turbulence on Tuesday described a sudden, dramatic drop as “all hell broke loose” on board the Boeing airliner carrying 229 passengers and crew.

Flight SQ321 was cruising at 37,000 feet from London to Singapore when flight tracking data shows the plane rapidly plunged before climbing several hundred feet, then repeated the dip and ascent, for about 90 seconds.

At first, “the flight was perfectly normal,” said passenger Andrew Davies, who was traveling to New Zealand for business. He described the flight as “quite smooth … I don’t remember any turbulence at all.”

Many passengers were having breakfast at the time of the incident.

Then, about nine or 10 hours into the roughly 13-hour flight, he was watching a movie when he saw the seat belt sign light up – so he put his seat belt on. “Thank goodness I did because within moments of doing that, all hell broke loose,” he told CNN.

“The plane just felt like it dropped. It probably only lasted a few seconds, but I remember vividly seeing shoes and iPads and iPhones and cushions and blankets and cutlery and plates and cups flying through the air and crashing to the ceiling. The gentleman next to me had a cup of coffee, which went straight all over me and up to the ceiling,” Davies said.

Images from the plane afterward show the cabin in disarray, with papers, cups and water pitchers scattered on the floor, and ceiling panels and piping hanging loose.

The interior of Singapore Airline flight SQ321 is pictured after an emergency landing at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi International Airport, Thailand, on May 21.

Davies was sitting toward the front of the plane and witnessed some of the injuries sustained by dozens of