Mid-air disaster: Woman 'partially sucked out' of plane
A person has died after an engine exploded and ripped off mid-air on a Southwest Airlines flight from New York’s La Guardia Airport to Dallas.
The National Transport Safety Bureau Chairman Robert Sumwalt confirmed “there was on fatality” on the flight. No other details were provided.
Passengers on the flight, which made an emergency landing at Philadelphia’s airport overnight, described terrifying scenes as a piece of shrapnel caused a window to blow out.
“One passenger, a woman, who was partially drawn out of the plane … was pulled back in by other passengers,” Todd Bauer, the father of one of the passengers, told WACU.
It is not yet known if the deceased person is the same passenger who was nearly drawn out of the window.
The woman was pulled back into her seats by other passengers and was taken to hospital immediately after the plane landed. Twelve others were assessed and seven of them had minor injuries.
Frightened passengers shared videos and photos from on board as the plane descended at 3,000ft per minute until they levelled out at 10,000ft.
Passenger Marty Martinez started a short Facebook Live video with the caption: “Something is wrong with our plane! It appears we are going down! Emergency landing! Southwest flight from NYC to Dallas!!”
He said “there was blood everywhere” on-board.
“First there was an explosion almost immediately, the oxygen masks came down and within a matter of 10 seconds, the engine then hit a window and busted it wide open,” he said.
Flight 1380 was carrying 143 passengers and five crew members.
Southwest said it was investigating the incident.
“We are in the process of gathering more information,” the statement said. “Safety is always our top priority at Southwest Airlines, and we are working diligently to support our customers and crews at this time.”