A British woman seriously injured on a Singapore Airlines flight was left paralyzed from the waist down, her husband revealed today.
Dance teacher Kerry Jordan suffered a “life-changing injury” after being catapulted into overhead lockers after the Boeing 777 suffered extreme turbulence on her flight from London.
She is recovering at Samittivej Srinakarin Hospital in Bangkok, where she is expected to remain for several weeks after undergoing emergency surgery.
Jordan, originally from Appledore in Devon, was heading home to Adelaide, Australia, with her husband Keith Davis after a holiday in the UK.
She is a permanent resident of Australia and emigrated as a child.
Dance teacher Kerry Jordan suffered a “life-changing injury” after being catapulted into the upper lockers. She is pictured on the right with her husband Keith Davis.
Davis, 59, revealed that his wife is “not in a big space” and said that when the plane suddenly dropped in altitude, she was thrown from her seat.
The interior of Singapore Airline flight SG321 after an emergency landing at Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok, Thailand, on May 21.
Davis, 59, revealed that his wife is “not in a big space” and said that when the plane suddenly dropped in altitude, she was thrown from her seat into an overhead bin and landed in the aisle where she remained until the flight was over. diverted to Bangkok.
“She had emergency surgery as soon as we came in and she still doesn’t feel anything from the waist down, so her life has changed quite a bit,” Davis said from her hospital bed.
His wife is one of 22 people who suffered spinal injuries during the incident. Ten British passengers, the largest number, remain hospitalized.
Among them is the widow of Geoff Kitchen, a former theater director who was the only fatality on the plane.
The 73-year-old man is believed to have suffered a heart attack.
The Kitchens, from Thornbury, Gloucestershire, were sitting in the row in front of Mr Davis and his wife.
Describing the scene of chaos and terror, Davis said: “We’ve just fallen into a huge hole and we’re free falling and of course straight towards the ceiling.”
Kerry is recovering at Samittivej Srinakarin Hospital in Bangkok, where she is expected to remain for several weeks after undergoing emergency surgery.
‘I went headlong. We were in the midsection, so I was in the center and I went up through the vent and the masks and stuff. Unfortunately for Kerry, she crashed into the luggage doors.
‘Instead of landing back on the seat, he fell face first into the aisle and didn’t move from then on. There she remained for the rest of the flight.
‘It is awful. I remember leaning over her and she was breathing. She was able to communicate, she was very weak.
Geoff Kitchen, 73, suffered a suspected heart attack on the plane and eventually died.
‘I remember feeling her breathing, talking and realizing she was dripping blood on her dress. I thought, “Oh, I’m going to ruin her dress.”
Davis was photographed being wheeled into a hospital cafeteria wearing a green gown and a large white bandage wrapped around his head. He had a black eye and a swollen cheek.
Davis said it would be a matter of weeks before his wife could fly back home to Australia and the airline would arrange his daughter’s trip to Bangkok.
His wife is the former director of dance at Scotch College in Adelaide.
Her husband previously said his wife was born in the UK and emigrated to Australia as a child.
Thai authorities said 40 people from the flight remain in hospital and 22 are being treated for spinal injuries.
Six patients are also being treated for head and brain injuries.
An injured man is seen being taken off the plane on a stretcher after the incident
Adinun Kittiratanapaibool, director of Bangkok’s Samitivej Srinakarin Hospital, said the oldest patient at the hospital is 83 years old and the youngest is a two-year-old boy who suffered a concussion.
Bangkok hospital authorities said three British passengers on the Singapore flight were discharged overnight.
Seven remain hospitalized and undergoing treatment, including Geoff Kitchen’s widow.
Hospital bosses said those with spinal injuries will remain in hospital for several weeks.
