Experts weigh in after death on Singapore Airlines flight [Video]

One passenger died and 30 others were injured aboard a Singapore Airlines flight that was hit by “severe turbulence,” officials said Tuesday, but experts say such deaths are rare even as researchers warn climate change may be causing more extreme cases of turbulence.

Since 2009, the National Transportation Safety Board said, the U.S. has not had any turbulence-related fatalities aboard large commercial planes, such as the Boeing aircraft that encountered sudden extreme turbulence over the Irrawaddy River in Myanmar at 37,000 feet.

A 73-year-old passenger who had some medical problems died, possibly from cardiac arrest, and at least seven people were critically injured, Kittipong Kittikachorn, general manager of Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport, said at a news conference Tuesday.

The cause of the turbulence is under investigation. Singapore Airlines said the Singapore-bound flight …