A Briton who died after severe turbulence hit a flight from London has been named.

Geoff Kitchen died of a heart attack after the Singapore Airlines Boeing flight plunged 7,000ft in just six minutes.

The 73-year-old from Thornbury, Gloucestershire, had just begun a six week trip to Singapore, Indonesia, Japan and Australia, with wife Linda when the incident happened.

His family have paid tribute to him, saying he was a "really nice guy."

Geoff, who has a daughter and a son, was a member of the Thornbury Musical Theatre Group.

Steve Dimond, who lives with wife Jill a few doors down from Geoff in Thornbury told The Sun: "We are really upset.

"My wife is upstairs crying. He was a really nice guy. I last saw them on Sunday night and my wife saw them drive off on Monday.

"They were going on a big holiday to Singapore, Indonesia, Japan and Australia. They have a son and a daughter."

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

'Has Ofcom lost the plot?' Ex-Lib Dem chair Mark Oaten blasts 'ludicrous ruling'Pensioner, 78, dead and man arrested after gunshots heardGiovanni Pernice claims could continue as fears 'more dirt will emerge' in 'nightmare situation'

A passenger who was on the flight said that the incident involved the sensation of rising then falling.

Dzafran Azmir, a 28-year-old student on board the flight told Reuters: "Suddenly the aircraft starts tilting up and there was shaking so I started bracing for what was happening, and very suddenly there was a very dramatic drop so everyone seated and not wearing a seatbelt was launched immediately into the ceiling.

"Some people hit their heads on the baggage cabins overhead and dented it, they hit the places where lights and masks are and broke straight through it."

The Boeing 777-300ER plane had 211 passengers and 18 crew when it made the emergency landing, the airline said.

Bangkok Suvarnabhumi airport general manager Kittipong Kittikachorn told a press conference the plane requested an emergency landing at 3:35 p.m. local time (8:35 a.m. GMT) and landed at 3:51.

Uninjured passengers disembarked and an another aircraft will fly them onwards. The airline said it landed at 3:45 pm.