Death of British man on SQ321 caused by cardiac failure resulting from severe turbulence, UK inquest hears
Mr Geoff Kitchen died on flight SQ321 in May 2024 after the plane experienced a sudden drop in altitude while travelling from London's Heathrow Airport to Singapore.
· CNA · JoinRead a summary of this article on FAST.
Get bite-sized news via a new
cards interface. Give it a try.
Click here to return to FAST Tap here to return to FAST
FAST
SINGAPORE: The death of a British national on board a Singapore Airlines (SIA) flight in 2024 was caused by cardiac failure resulting from severe turbulence, an inquest in the United Kingdom heard on Wednesday (Sep 23).
Mr Geoff Kitchen died on flight SQ321 after the plane was struck by severe turbulence near Myanmar's southwestern region while travelling from London's Heathrow Airport to Singapore.
Dr Peter Harrowing told the inquest at Avon Coroners' Court he was satisfied that "the physiological effect of the aircraft turbulence" caused Mr Kitchen to suffer a cardiac arrest and ultimately led to his death, the BBC reported.
The court's area coroner said Mr Kitchen, who had a history of coronary artery disease, had been "thrown from his seat and landed on an adjacent passenger" during the incident.
CNA Games
Guess Word
Crack the word, one row at a time
Buzzword
Create words using the given letters
Mini Sudoku
Tiny puzzle, mighty brain teaser
Mini Crossword
Small grid, big challenge
Word Search
Spot as many words as you can
Show More
Show Less
"At first blush one might consider natural causes being an appropriate cause of death. That does not take account of the events that occurred of the severe turbulence to which Geoff was subjected," news outlet The Independent reported Dr Harrowing as saying.
"I shall record that Geoffrey Kitchen died of cardiac failure as a result of the aircraft for which he was a passenger encountering severe turbulence."
In response to a request for comment from CNA, SIA said that it was unable to comment on matters before the courts.
Mr Kitchen, 73, was travelling with his wife Linda on May 21, 2024, for a six-week holiday to Singapore, Indonesia and Australia when turbulence hit their flight.
Mr Kitchen died and his wife suffered a broken back while dozens of others were also injured.
An initial post-mortem examination held in Thailand found that Mr Kitchen died from congestive heart failure, reported the BBC.
The inquest was told that he had undergone an operation to fit stents to his right coronary artery in April 2019 but was found to have returned to "normal exercise capacity" after a review in October that year.
The pathologist who performed an additional post-mortem examination on Kitchen's body in Bristol said his cause of death had been cardiac failure due to coronary artery atheroma and the physiological effects of turbulence, reported the BBC.
In May 2026, a final report released by Singapore's Transport Safety Investigation Bureau (TSIB) said Mr Kitchen suffered heart failure and pulmonary oedema, which is a condition involving a build-up of fluid in the lungs.
Mrs Kitchen told the inquest in a statement that her husband fell on her lap before two passengers moved him back into his seat, where his head "flopped forward", The Independent reported.
According to the BBC, she said Mr Kitchen was moved to the front of the plane to be given CPR, but nobody told her he had died until two days later.
The Kitchen family has taken legal action against SIA. In August, The Independent reported that they filed two claims, one by Mrs Kitchen and another by her on behalf of her husband’s estate.
The airline is also facing legal action from several other passengers, including Bradley Richards, Jack Jenkins, Hannah Fullerton, Andrew Dawood, Bryan Matthews, and Pauline and Michael Rainey, the news outlet reported.
Flight SQ321 was carrying 211 passengers and 18 crew members when the incident occurred.
TSIB found that the turbulence was convectively induced and likely associated with a rapidly growing cloud capable of producing significant updrafts and downdrafts.
The pilots saw no bad weather on their navigational displays in the minutes before the incident, and visual checks indicated a clear flight path.
Investigators concluded that the aircraft's weather radar likely did not detect the bad weather before the turbulence struck, although the radar manufacturer said it found no evidence that the system had failed to detect and display weather during the flight.
The seat belt sign had been switched on after the aircraft began experiencing turbulence, but severe turbulence struck just 17 seconds later, leaving no time for the flight crew to make a cabin announcement.
Rapid changes in gravitational force sent some passengers who were not wearing seat belts airborne before they fell back down.
Apart from Mr Kitchen, 56 people suffered serious injuries and 23 had minor injuries, while 149 were uninjured.
Sign up for our newsletters
Get our pick of top stories and thought-provoking articles in your inbox
Get the CNA app
Stay updated with notifications for breaking news and our best stories
Get WhatsApp alerts
Join our channel for the top reads for the day on your preferred chat app