British man dies and several passengers are injured when turbulence hits a Singapore Airlines flight

 Ambulances are seen at the airport where a London-Singapore flight that encountered severe turbulence was diverted to, in Bangkok

BANGKOK (AP) — A Singapore Airlines flight hit severe turbulence over the Indian Ocean and descended 6,000 feet in a span of about three minutes, the carrier said Tuesday, leaving a British man dead and more than two dozen other passengers injured.

The flight was then diverted and landed in stormy weather in Bangkok.

Authorities said the 73-year-old British man may have suffered a heart attack, though that has not been confirmed. His name was not immediately released.

The Boeing 777 flight from London’s Heathrow airport to Singapore, with 211 passengers and 18 crew members aboard, landed at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport, the airline said in a Facebook post.

Emergency medical crews rushed to help the passengers. Videos posted on the LINE messaging platform by Suvarnabhumi Airport showed a line of ambulances streaming to the scene.

Singapore Airlines said on Facebook that as of four hours after the emergency landing, 18 people remained hospitalized while another 12 were treated on outpatient basis. “The remaining passengers and crew are being examined and given treatment, where necessary,” it said. Airports of Thailand group said the lightly injured and non-injured passengers are being assisted at a specially assigned location inside the terminal at the Suvarnabhumi Airport.

Thailand’s Transport Minister Suriya Jungrungruangkit said Singapore would dispatch another plane later Tuesday night to transport the lightly injured and non-injured passengers to the city-state’s Changi airport. He said that plane was expected to arrive in Bangkok at 9:45 p.m.

By Associated Press