A woman was "partially sucked out" an airplane window after an engine exploded in midair Tuesday, leading desperate passengers aboard the Southwest Airlines flight to try pulling her to safety amid a chaotic scene with "blood everywhere," frightened witnesses said.
At least one passenger was taken to the hospital and several people were reported injured after the plane made the emergency landing in Philadelphia, officials said.
WACU reported a passenger was "partially sucked out" of one of the plane's windows when the engine exploded and shrapnel from the engine pierced through a window, a father of one of the passengers said.
“One passenger, a woman, was partially…was drawn out towards the outside of the plane…was pulled back in by other passengers," Todd Bauer, the father of one of the passengers said.
Sources told FOX 29 that one passenger was in critical condition with head trauma and nine others were injured in the incident. It was not immediately clear if any of the nine injured were hospitalized.
A Southwest Airlines spokesperson said the Boeing 737-700 diverted "because of an operational event" but photos appeared to show engine damage.
Flight 1380 was en route from LaGuardia Airport in New York City to Dallas Love Field when it was diverted to Philadelphia International Airport. The plane was carrying 143 passengers and five crewmembers.
The Philadelphia Fire Department was on the scene helping evacuate passengers.
Marty Martinez, a passenger on the flight, posted a video on his personal Facebook page stating he was "recording his last moments." Martinez told CBS News there was "blood everywhere" on the aircraft.
"We were probably going down for 10 to 15 minutes," Martinez said. "And of course everyone is freaking out, everyone is crying. It was the scariest experience."
**************** TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*
One person was killed after an engine failed and forced a Southwest Airlines flight to make an emergency landing at Philadelphia International Airport on Tuesday, federal investigators said.
Robert Sumwalt, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, said that at about 11:15 a.m., the Southwest flight suffered an “apparent in-flight engine failure of the left engine.” Sumwalt, who confirmed one fatality, said NTSB will ship the engine offsite and deconstruct it to determine what went wrong.
Sumwalt said the death marks the first passenger fatality on a U.S. carrier since 2009. The NTSB declined to speculate on the cause of death. It also marks the first passenger fatality for Southwest.
Airline officials had declined to specify the nature of the problem that forced the landing, but social media footage showed a heavily damaged engine. Passengers reported hearing an explosion and said shrapnel from the engine blew out a window.
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