On May 20, 2024, Singapore Airlines flight SQ 321, enroute from London to Singapore, flew into severe turbulence over Myanmar and plummeted 6,000 feet, catapulting passengers into the ceiling and about the aircraft and causing sheer terror. One passenger died of an apparent heart attack and scores sustained serious injuries, including spinal injuries and broken bones. The aircraft was diverted to Bangkok where many passengers remain hospitalized in the intensive care unit.
Contrary to the beliefs of some, turbulence is not a phenomenon which unexpectedly occurs. Rather, it is part of a weather system which should be detected and avoided. The area where this incident occurred is renowned as one of the worst areas for turbulence in the world.
All of the SQ 321 passengers are entitled to fair compensation for their physical and accompanying psychological injuries arising from this turbulence encounter. An action against the air carrier, Singapore Airline, will be governed by the Montreal Convention, an international treaty which governs claims against air carriers arising from injuries sustained during an international flight. The Montreal Convention provides that the air carrier is strictly liable for damages up to 128, 821 Special Drawing Rights, an international monetary fund approximately equal to a current value of $175,000. The carrier is responsible for the payment of additional damages unless it can prove that its negligence did not cause the passenger’s injuries.
Singapore Airline should not be able to meet this strict burden of proof and should be responsible for the full measure of a passenger’s damages, including past and future medical bills and lost wages, disability, disfigurement and mental pain and anguish. The Montreal Convention provides that no payment will be owed for purely psychological injuries, but this provision does not apply where, as in this occurrence, the passenger’s psychological injuries are accompanied by physical injuries. Every passenger on board SQ 321 experienced some physical injury, even if from the pressure of a seat belt, in addition to the sheer terror of the sudden 6,000 foot descent.
Wisner Law Firm is an international aviation law firm which has successfully represented passengers and their families in almost every major air disaster over the past 30 years, including many Montreal Convention claims. Wisner and its colleagues, including James Healy-Pratt of Keystone Law in London, the world’s leading expert in international aviation insurance, and Asia Pacific Claims Management, the leading aviation claims management firm in the Asia Pacific region, are again working as a team to obtain the fair compensation to which SQ 321 passengers are entitled. This same team represented passengers of Qantas flight 72 which made two uncommanded dives towards the ocean on a 2008 flight from Singapore to Perth. Wisner currently is representing passengers of Hawaii Air flight HA 35 who sustained injuries when the airline flew into turbulence during a December 2022 flight.
SQ 321 passengers who wish to join in an action against Singapore Airline or other potentially responsible parties may contact Floyd Wisner directly at 1-630-484-5987 or Barry O’Sullivan (+61 417 892 040) or Kylie Meller (+61 422 860 610) of Asia Pacific Claims Management. We are contactable via WhatsApp.
