A British man who died after a Singapore Airlines flight hit severe turbulence has been named as Geoffrey Kitchen.
The Thornbury Musical Theatre Group, where the 73-year-old worked for 35 years, most recently as its director, is among those paying tribute to Mr Kitchen, praising him as a “gentleman with the utmost honesty and integrity”.
Mr Kitchen was travelling with his wife when he died on board the Boeing 777-300ER plane, which was forced to make an emergency landing in Bangkok en route to Singapore from London on Tuesday.
A spokesman for Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport said a British man suffered a suspected heart attack on the aircraft, which was carrying 211 passengers and 18 crew, while seven people are fighting for their lives in hospital, and dozens more were injured.
Singapore Airlines said the flight encountered “sudden extreme turbulence” over Myanmar’s Irrawaddy Basin at 37,000 feet about 10 hours after departure and the pilot declared a medical emergency, with flight tracking data showing the plane plummeted 6,000 feet in a matter of minutes.
Were you on the flight? Email holly.evans@independent.co.uk
