‘Singapore Airlines turbulence death’ & ‘Euros 2024 squad announcement’ – Paper Talk
Most of Wednesday’s front pages lead on the mid-air turbulence that struck the Singapore Airlines flight on Tuesday. British grandfather Geoffrey Kitchen, 73, died during the flight, suspected to have had a heart attack during the turbulence.
Away from the lead, there’s a mix of domestic topics on the front pages – with little unity across the papers.
The back pages lead on Gareth Southgate’s provisional England squad – ahead of this summer’s Euros. A few of the front pages feature the news as well – with Marcus Rashford and Jordan Henderson dropped from the squad.
Singapore Airlines turbulence death ‘Terror in the sky’ – Geoffrey Kitchen dies
The Metro leads on Geoffrey Kitchen. The 73-year-old British traveller died on a flight from London to Singapore that was hit by “extreme turbulence.” The paper quotes a passenger as saying the aircraft suddenly started “tilting up” when it was above the Myanmar coast.
The Guardian features a large image from inside the plane showing oxygen masks hanging down from the plane’s ceiling. The paper reports on Kitchen, from Gloucester, who probably had a heart attack, according to Thai authorities. Seven people were also critically injured. The paper says passengers not wearing seatbelts were flung against the ceiling.
The Daily Mail calls it a “nightmare at 37,000 feet”. The paper says friends have described Geoffrey Kitchen, as “adventurous”. The Mirror calls it “Terror in the sky,” and reports the jet dropped 6,000ft before Kitchen’s death. The image shows passengers amidst panels falling from the ceiling.
The Daily Express said Kitchen and his wife were at the start of a “dream holiday” to South East Asia and Australia. Passenger Dzafan Azmir is quoted saying: “Some people hit their heads on the baggage cabin overhead and dented it… they hit the places where lights and masks are and broke straight through it.”
Elsewhere other UK stories lead the papers.
The Guardian leads on new figures from Diabetes UK which show the number of people under 40 in the UK being diagnosed with type two diabetes has risen by 39% in six years.
The Daily Express leaves space on its front page for Dame Esther Rantzen. She urges a change to assisted dying laws as politicians in self-governing UK dependency Jersey debate whether it should be established there.
The Telegraph leads on Tory MP Craig Mackinlay who had his limbs amputated because of sepsis. He tells the broadsheet he was “lucky” to have survived blood clots that left his arms blackened and desiccated, leading to a quadruple amputation. The 57-year-old is due to attend Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday for the first time since contracting sepsis in September.
The i newspaper leads with a man charged with spying for China being found dead in a park in Berkshire. Matthew Trickett, 37, had been due at the Old Bailey on Friday charged with spying on Hong Kong activists in the UK, the paper writes. Police are investigating his death.
The Times’s front page leads on police being told to make fewer arrests because of the shortage of space in prisons.