Woman Partially Sucked Out of Southwest Plane After Mid-Air Explosion
A Southwest Airlines flight made an emergency landing in Philadelphia on Tuesday after a portion of the engine broke off during flight, smashing open a passenger window and causing the plane to depressurize.
“One passenger’s father-in-law, relaying information from his daughter, said the impact was so severe that a female passenger was partially sucked out of the plane when the window imploded,” WCAU-TV in Philadelphia reported.
“One passenger, a woman, was partially … was drawn out towards the outside of the plane … was pulled back in by other passengers,” he said in a phone interview with NBC 10.
The Associated Press reported one person has died who was on board the plane.
BREAKING: Federal investigator says 1 dead after plane with engine failure makes emergency landing in Philadelphia.
— The Associated Press (@AP) April 17, 2018
Flight 1380 was en route from New York’s LaGuardia Airport to Dallas’ Love Field with over 140 passengers on board, when the incident happened at 32,500 feet.
"All of a sudden, we hear an explosion and come to find out that the engine exploded on the left side of the plane," claims Marty Martinez, the Southwest passenger that live-streamed flight making an emergency landing https://t.co/lVelLDaE97 pic.twitter.com/8lJAuc0Qdr
— CBS News (@CBSNews) April 17, 2018
The pilot quickly took the plane down to 10,000 feet, traveling at more than 3,000 feet per minute, according to the aviation tracking tool Flight Aware.
Passenger Marty Martinez shot video of the scary experience.
Frightening video shows passengers wearing oxygen masks as Southwest jet prepares to make emergency landing in Philadelphia. https://t.co/hpUZKZMpzL pic.twitter.com/q43jNwd4DH
— ABC News (@ABC) April 17, 2018
“All of a sudden, we hear an explosion and come to find out that the engine exploded on the left side of the plane,” Martinez said.
In an interview after the ordeal, Martinez told CBS News that a woman was critically injured and immediately taken off the plane after it landed.
“There was blood everywhere,” Martinez said.
Timothy Bourman, 37, told philly.com he was in the back of the plane when he heard a boom.
“All the sudden, it felt like we dropped 100 feet,” said Bourman, a pastor in New York. “A lot of people started panicking and yelling, just real scared.”
After the plane landed, the extensive damage to the plane’s engine could clearly be seen.
https://twitter.com/joeasaprap/status/986277894279311360
The National Transportation Safety Board held a briefing about the incident in Washington and has deployed a team to Philadelphia.
In 2016, a Southwest flight from New Orleans to Orlando experienced a similar problem when an engine blew out, forcing an emergency landing in Pensacola, Florida.
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