Briton killed on Singapore flight was on 'last holiday'

Geoff Kitchen had a heart attack after turbulence hit aircraft

- ALEX ROSS, TARA COBHAM

A much-loved musical theatre director died on a Singapore Airlines flight that hit severe turbulence while his family said he was on his “last big holiday” with his wife. Father-of-two Geoff Kitchen has been named as the 73-year-old Briton who died on board the Boeing 777-300ER plane, which was forced to make an emergency landing in Bangkok en route to Singapore from London yesterday.

A spokesperson for Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport said a British man suffered a suspected heart attack on the aircraft. It was carrying 211 passengers – including 47 from the UK – and 18 crew. Seven people are in a critical condition in hospital and dozens more are injured.

Singapore Airlines said the flight encountered “sudden extreme turbulence” over Myanmar’s Irrawaddy Basin at 37,000 feet about 10 hours after departure and the pilot declared a medical emergency, with flight tracking data showing the plane plummeted 6,000 feet in minutes.

As details of the terrifying flight continue to emerge, tributes have been flooding in for Kitchen, who is from Thornbury, outside Bristol.

His wife was rushed to hospital after the incident, according to Airports of Thailand general manager Kittipong Kittikachorn.

The Thornbury Musical Theatre Group, where Kitchen devoted much of his time having worked there for 35 years and been its director since 2020, praised him as a “gentleman with the utmost honesty and integrity”.

Stephen Kitchen, Kitchen’s first cousin, said he and his wife, Linda, had been looking forward to their six-week holiday together.