A woman, who was traveling with two of her children on a Singapore-London BA12 British Airways flight this week said that she felt she was 'going to die' while flying 30,000 feet in the air after the aircraft was hit by turbulence.
The woman, who was identified as 31-year-old Jade Crosland, was traveling in the flight when the aircraft was hit by turbulence while flying over the Bay of Bengal. The woman clutched her one-year-old daughter Harper to her chest after the aircraft went into a "freefall".
"It was a completely normal flight at the beginning – the cabin crew were serving drinks and I was half asleep and my daughter was in the bassinet," she told MailOnline.
"The seatbelt sign came on with no announcement as I was half waking up, so I thought I had better get Harper out as when the sign is on you have to strap your infant to you," she added.
Crosland said that she felt they were going to die and observed her co-passengers, whose faces told a similar story.
"Everyone flew up in the air, everyone was screaming. I honestly thought we were going to die. I strapped her to me squeezing holding her thinking we’re going to die and "this is it."
The passengers were all looking at each other and we were all thinking "this is it we’re all going to go into the sea and die", Crosland, who runs a hair salon in Australia, said.
The turbulence left five flight attendants injured, but Crosland revealed that the other crew members aboard the flight were extremely helpful.
"The crew were highly professional and very organised and really held it together. They were amazing and very helpful," she said.
One of the crew members suffered a dislocated ankle and another crew member underwent a MRI scan to check bruises on her hip. A third member was still hospitalised after surgery on their ankle and femur.
The woman's husband, who was traveling with her on the same flight, later shared the experience on his Instagram page.
"Lived a real-life horror movie on the way, but after 36 hours of travelling we made it back for the family visit," he wrote.
"The plane had passed over the Andaman Sea and was above the Bay of Bengal after leaving Singapore when severe and sustained turbulence struck. The airline has not experienced anything like this in the last five years. It's an area where winds often make flying uncomfortable, but the severity of this turbulence was obscene.
"From no-where, the plane was shaking as it suddenly dropped five feet and rose again in uncomfortable jerked motions. There were screams from the passengers and great upset spread through the cabins," a source told The Sun.
British Airways later shared issued an apology for the trouble caused to those on-board.
"Safety is always our priority and we’re looking after our crew after one of our flights experienced a rare episode of severe turbulence. Our highly trained team on board reassured customers and the aircraft returned to Singapore as a precaution.
We’ve apologised to customers for the delay to their flight and provided them with hotel accommodation and information on their consumer rights. We’re re-booking customers onto the next available flights with us and other airlines," a spokesperson of the airline said.
Also read: Vistara employee, Thai man arrested at Delhi airport for alleged gold smuggling
Discover the latest Business News, Sensex, and Nifty updates. Obtain Personal Finance insights, tax queries, and expert opinions on Moneycontrol or download the Moneycontrol App to stay updated!
