SEOUL, May 24 (Reuters) - Singapore Airlines

has tweaked its in-flight seatbelt sign policies and altered at

least one flight route after a turbulence incident this week

killed one person and left dozens more hospitalised, according

to the airline and flight data.

The airline is adopting a more cautious approach to

turbulence, including not serving hot drinks or meals when the

seat belt sign is on, it said in a statement to Singapore

broadcaster Channel News Asia.

"SIA will continue to review our processes, as the safety of

our passengers and crew is of utmost importance," it said.

The airline did not respond to a Reuters request for

comment.

The SQ321 London-Singapore flight on a Boeing

777-300ER plane carrying 211 passengers and 18 crew diverted to

Bangkok for an emergency landing on Tuesday after the plane was

buffeted by turbulence that flung passengers and crew around the

cabin, slamming some into the ceiling.

The daily London to Singapore route SQ321 has completed two

flights since the incident and not flown over the part of

Myanmar where the sudden turbulence occurred about 3 hours

before scheduled landing. The flight time is about the same,

tracking data show.

They flew instead over the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea,

route data from flight tracker FlightRadar 24 shows.

Singapore Airlines has said the plane on Tuesday encountered

sudden extreme turbulence. A 73-year-old British passenger died

of a suspected heart attack.

Photographs from inside the plane showed gashes in the

overhead cabin panels, oxygen masks and panels hanging from the

ceiling and luggage strewn around. A passenger said some

people's heads had slammed into the lights above the seats and

broken the panels.

As of late Thursday, 46 passengers and two crew members

were hospitalised in Bangkok; 19 others were still in Bangkok,

the airline said.

Twenty of the 46 remained in intensive care, an official at

Bangkok's Samitivej Srinakarin Hospital said on Thursday, adding

that the injured had a mix of spinal cord, brain and skull

injuries.

Singapore Airlines, which is widely recognised as one of the

world's leading airlines and is seen as a benchmark for much of

the industry, has not had any major incidents in recent years.