Culture

A Southwest Airlines Passenger Has Died After An Engine Explosion Caused Her To Be Nearly Sucked Through A Window

UPDATE: Bloomberg and CNN are reporting that, per remarks made by National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Robert Sumwalt, one of the passengers from Southwest flight 1380 has died. Sumwalt added that it was the first time a passenger has died onboard a U.S. flight in nine years, but provided no details about the deceased.

The original article is as follows.

Just a few days after passengers relayed their harrowing ordeal when a Southwest Airlines flight attempted to land in New Orleans during severe weather, another flight from the same airline had to make an emergency landing in Philadelphia after one of the engines exploded mid-flight. To make matters worse, NBC Philadelphia is reporting that a passenger was nearly sucked out of a window after shrapnel from the decimated engine broke it. “One passenger, a woman, was partially… was drawn out towards the out of the plane… was pulled back in by other passengers,” said Todd Baur, the father of another passenger.


Baur added that the woman who was almost sucked out of the plane has since been rushed to a nearby hospital. Meanwhile, other photos and videos from those who were onboard the flight have been making the rounds on social media. This includes “grainy footage” from passenger Marty Martinez, whose posed a Facebook live video of himself and others donning oxygen masks. “Something is wrong with our plane! It appears we are going down! Emergency landing!! Southwest flight from NYC to Dallas!!” he wrote, adding: “We are bracing for landing!!”

Speaking with CBS News after the plane landed, Martinez said, “All of a sudden, we hear an explosion and come to find out that the engine exploded on the left side of the plane. That explosion caused one of the windows to explode.”

(Via CBS News and NBC Philadelphia)