More than 20 patients from Singapore Airlines turbulence incident suffer spinal injuries

More than half of the patients currently hospitalized in Bangkok for serious injuries suffered from the Singapore Airlines flight that hit severe turbulence earlier this week damaged their spines, a Bangkok hospital said Thursday.

Samitivej Srinakarin Hospital Director Adinun Kittiratanapaibool talks to reporters during a press conference in Bangkok, Thailand on Thursday. Many of the more seriously injured people who were on the Singapore Airlines flight that hit severe turbulence need operations on their spines, the Bangkok hospital said. [AP/YONHAP]

More than half of the patients currently hospitalized in Bangkok for serious injuries suffered from the Singapore Airlines flight that hit severe turbulence earlier this week damaged their spines, a Bangkok hospital said Thursday.

Twenty people are in intensive care, and a 73-year-old British man died after the Boeing 777-300ER, which was flying from London’s Heathrow Airport to Singapore on Tuesday, hit sudden extreme turbulence while flying over Myanmar’s Irrawaddy Basin. Passengers and items on the plane were thrown around as the plane “suddenly dropped” without warning. The British man died of a suspected heart attack. The plane made an emergency landing in Bangkok, where patients were taken to the Samitivej Srinakarin Hospital.

As reported by AP, the hospital’s director, Adinun Kittiratanapaibool, said at a news conference Thursday that 22 out of the 41 people who remained at the hospital as of Thursday morning had spinal or spinal cord damage. Six had skull or brain injuries, and 13 had damage to bones or internal organs.

Out of the 41 patients, 22 were women and 19 were men. The ages ranged from two to 83 years.

None of the 20 patients in intensive care were in a life-threatening condition, Adinun said. They include six Britons, six Malaysians, three Australians, two Singaporeans and one person each from the Philippines, New Zealand and Hong Kong.

A total of seventeen surgeries have been performed — nine spinal surgeries and eight for other injuries, the director said. He said it was too early to tell if any could suffer permanent paralysis and that doctors would observe muscle function recovery after the surgeries.

One Korean was among the 211 passengers that were on the plane. The Korean passenger received treatment for muscle pains in the neck but was released from the hospital as soon as their injuries were not severe.

A separate Singapore Airlines flight took 143 uninjured or lightly hurt people to Singapore on Wednesday morning, according to AP's report. It is unconfirmed if the Korean passenger was among those 143.

BY KIM JU-YEON [kim.juyeon2@joongang.co.kr]