An Australian woman who was paralyzed from the chest down after a Singapore Airlines flight hit severe turbulence has recalled the horrifying moment she realized she couldn’t move her legs.
Kerry Jordan, 52, and her husband Keith Davis, 59, They were returning home from a holiday in Europe when the plane fell 54 meters in just 4.6 seconds.
The Boeing 777-300ER plane carrying 211 passengers, including 56 Australians and 18 crew, was traveling from London to Singapore on May 23 when it hit an airbag. A 73-year-old British man died of a suspected heart attack.
Speaking from the Royal Adelaide Hospital (RAH), Ms Jordan, who is unlikely to walk again, said she was trying to put on her seatbelt after going to the toilet when turbulence suddenly occurred.
“Literally everything started shaking so much… all I remember was being in the air and everything was absolutely silent and then I was on the ground,” he said. The advertiser.
Kerry Jordan, an Adelaide woman, was left paralyzed from the chest down after Singapore Airlines Flight 321 hit turbulence. She is pictured in the hospital with her husband Keith Davis.
Singapore Airlines Flight SQ321 (pictured) suddenly fell 54 meters in just 4.6 seconds after encountering severe turbulence over Myanmar on a flight from London to Singapore.
Jordan, a dance teacher at Mitcham Girls High School, said the turbulence was “absolutely violent”.
“I think the shock for me was also when it all happened: within 10 seconds of trying to put my seat belt back on,” he recalled.
Mr. Davis was not wearing a seat belt when the plane plummeted. He suffered a shoulder injury and blurred vision.
He didn’t know if his wife was still alive when she fell to the ground.
“She never moved and it was so unnatural, and I was just horrified,” he said.
Another passenger asked Jordan if she could move her legs, but she couldn’t. She remembers the man then told her that she might have a possible spinal injury.
She remained on the ground for the rest of the flight and was taken to intensive care at a Bangkok hospital after the plane landed.
Ms Jordan was medically evacuated from Bangkok to Adelaide on May 29 and is now in the RAH spinal unit in Daw Park, where she faces months of rehabilitation.
The fracture in her spine is in the C7-T1 segment which connects the neck to the upper back and Ms Jordan cannot feel “anything basically from the chest down”.
Although he can move his arms, he cannot use his hands.
He said that no longer being able to perform basic tasks, such as feeding yourself while brushing your teeth or using your mobile phone, is out of the question.
“I think that’s the hardest thing, not being able to feel most of my body,” he said.
Speaking from the Royal Adelaide Hospital, Ms Jordan (pictured) said she had been trying to put her seatbelt back on after going to the toilet when turbulence suddenly hit
Keith Davis (pictured left), 59, from Adelaide and his wife Kerry Jordan (pictured right) were on their way home from a holiday in Europe when disaster struck.
The couple are now considering their legal options for the injuries they suffered on the Singapore Airlines flight.
Former politician Nick Xenophon is part of an international legal team working with victims who were on board Singapore Airlines flight SQ321.
Xenophon said “no stone will be left unturned to get to the truth of what really happened… this incident will have wide ramifications in terms of airlines doing everything they can to prevent deaths and serious injuries.”