By Zach Hope
Bangkok: An Adelaide woman injured aboard Singapore Airlines flight 321 has no feeling from the waist down and is one of nearly 20 patients who remain in intensive care in Thailand.
Kerry Jordan, a British national, and her Australian husband, Keith Davis, were on their way home from a United Kingdom holiday when the London to Singapore flight rapidly lost altitude over Myanmar on Tuesday night.
Keith Davis (centre) is whisked away and prevented from talking to reporters at Samitivej Srinakarin Hospital in Bangkok, Thailand, on Thursday.Credit: AP
Almost half the plane’s 211 passengers were injured in what has become one of the most serious turbulence events in modern aviation history.
The injuries and onboard death of British man Geoffrey Kitchen prompted the pilot to make an emergency landing in Bangkok. At least nine and possibly 12 Australians remain in hospital. Several of them, including Jordan, have horrific injuries.
“We just fell into a freefall zone, and before we knew it, we’re on the ceiling and then bang, we’re on the ground,” Davis told Nine.
While he fell back into his seat, Jordan fell into the aisle and didn’t move.
The interior of Singapore Airlines flight SQ321 after the emergency landing at Bangkok Airport.Credit: Reuters
“I realised I was pouring blood all over her and I thought, ‘Wow, we are in a lot of serious trouble here’.”
Nearby, a man was performing CPR on Kitchen.
Another woman from Adelaide is also being treated for serious back injuries and may be in Bangkok’s Samitivej Srinakarin Hospital for weeks.
An Australian aboard the flight, who did not wish to be identified, told this masthead on Friday that he was still getting flashbacks of the blood and trauma in the cabin as the plane descended towards Bangkok.
Davis said the scene was “carnage”. He received an appreciated phone call from Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong on Friday.
“[Kerry] has no sensation from her waist down, it’s pretty radical for us,” he said.
“It’s a hell of a shock … we’ve had a fantastic holiday in the UK, we’re one more flight away, nearly home, and this comes along.”
Davis hopes to organise a medical evacuation for his wife back to Adelaide, but he became frustrated with Singapore Airlines in the days after the incident because there had been no communication with him about how this might be achieved.
Mostly, he had wanted to know whether the airline would assist in arranging the flight, or whether he would have to go through his insurance provider.
When he tried to speak to the media about his situation on Thursday, hospital officials blocked him and commandeered his wheelchair. The hospital’s director later apologised for the episode, saying staff should have allowed Davis to speak to the media if that was his wish.
Singapore Airlines chief executive Goh Choon Phong also apologised to the Davises about the communication problem. He spoke with other hospitalised Australians during visits to Bangkok hospitals on Thursday.
There were rumours Goh would return on Friday, but this did not eventuate. The boss did not front the large contingent of media on his earlier rounds and has yet to answer questions. He was not cited by journalists at Srinakarin, suggesting he either entered through a side door or while the cameras were assembled at a light-on-detail press conference upstairs.
The injured from flight SQ321 range from two years of age to 83. The latest figures from officials at Samitivej Srinakarin Hospital on Friday had 48 passengers still in Bangkok for treatment.
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