Singapore airlines flight: Cause of the recent severe turbulence

Severe turbulence on a Singapore Airlines flight led to one death and multiple injuries. Tropical storms were likely responsible for the turbulence.

A serious incident occurred on a flight from London to Singapore on Tuesday afternoon (local time). A Singapore Airlines Boeing 777 encountered severe turbulence over Myanmar.

According to current information, one man suffered a heart attack. More than 50 other people were injured, some in a critical state in hospital.

As the time of the incident, a meal was being served and many passengers were not wearing seatbelts, which resulted in them being violently thrown around when the plane suddenly dropped. The pilots made an emergency landing in Bangkok.

Though it has not yet been officially confirmed by the airline, high-altitude tropical thunderstorms were likely responsible for the turbulence.

Extremely strong updrafts and downdrafts develop in and around thunderstorms, which can cause convective turbulence. These downdrafts are also known as "air pockets".

This is one of the reasons why planes will usually fly around thunderstorms. However, this is not always possible, especially with large thunderstorm complexes such as those that occur in the tropics.