A Singapore Airlines flight that made an emergency landing in Bangkok on Tuesday had fallen into an air pocket in Thai airspace before it encountered turbulence, with one man killed and seven people critically injured on board, a senior airport official said.

Suvarnabhumi airport general manager Kittipong Kittikachorn told a press conference a 73-year-old British man died during the incident, likely due to a heart attack, while head injuries were sustained among seven people critically injured. One crew member was hospitalised, he said.

(Reporting by Chayut Setboonsarng; Writing by Martin Petty)