Investigators analysing data from SQ321's flight recorders: Chee Hong Tat

SINGAPORE: Investigators have obtained and are examining the data from the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder of Singapore Airlines (SIA) flight SQ321, said Minister for Transport Chee Hong Tat on Friday (May 24).

SQ321 had been travelling from London to Singapore on Tuesday when the Boeing 777-300ER, carrying 211 passengers and 18 crew members, encountered extreme turbulence. One passenger died and and dozen injured, resulting in an emergency diversion of the plane to Bangkok.

Singapore's Transport Safety Investigation Bureau (TSIB), part of the Transport Ministry, despatched investigators to Bangkok to find out what happened. Investigators from the United States have also travelled to Thailand.

“We have a team that went to Bangkok and they have obtained the data from the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder,” said Mr Chee on Friday.

"They are going through the data from these two recorders now to be able to ascertain what happened during those moments. So, we await investigation findings to understand what happened during that time."

SIA has meanwhile suspended the serving in-flight meals, in addition to hot drinks, when the seat belt sign is turned on, as part of a more cautious approach to managing turbulence.

The national carrier also diverted its daily London to Singapore SQ321 flights to avoid the airspace over the Irrawaddy Basin in Myanmar, where the sudden turbulence occurred about three hours before the scheduled landing earlier this week.

The two SQ321 flights since Tuesday's incident instead flew over the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea, route data from flight tracker FlightRadar 24 showed. The flight time is about the same, according to tracking data.

As of Friday evening, 61 passengers and two crew members from Tuesday's flight 321 are still in Bangkok. This includes 44 passengers and two crew members who have been hospitalised in the Thai capital, said SIA.