One dead, woman 'partially sucked out' of plane after engine failure mid-air
A passenger is dead after a plane suffered catastrophic engine failure at 32,000 feet, causing debris to smash a window and a woman to be "partially sucked out" of the hole.
The Dallas-bound Southwest Airlines flight with 149 people on board was forced to undertake an emergency landing at Philadelphia International Airport at 11.20am Tuesday (local time).
After an engine on the plane's left side blew, it threw off shrapnel, shattering a window and causing cabin depressurisation that nearly sucked out a female passenger.
"A woman was partially, was drawn out of the plane and pulled back in by other passengers; she was the one that was injured," Todd Bauer, whose daughter was on the flight, told local television station NBC-10.
US National Transport Safety Board Chairman Robert Sumwalt told a news briefing that one person had been killed, but declined to elaborate.
The passenger was later identified as Jennifer Riordan, a Wells Fargo bank executive and mother of two from Albuquerque, New Mexico.
However, it was not immediately clear if the passenger sucked from the window was the same passenger who was later confirmed dead.
Seven passengers were treated for minor injuries by paramedics.
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Marty Martinez witnessed the chaos unfolding and said flight attendants were reduced to tears as they desperately attempted to cover the broken hole.
“Engine exploded (we think) and shattered one of the windows killing a passenger,” he wrote on Facebook.
“Flight attendants ran over calling for passengers to help cover hold as they broke down and began uncontrollably crying and looking horrified as they looked outside.
“Plane dropped dramatically and it smelled like fire with ash.”
Martinez said objects flew out of the hole where the window had exploded, and "passengers right next to her were holding onto (the woman being pulled out).
"Meanwhile, there was blood all over this man's hands. He was tending to her."
He said passengers held on to the woman being sucked out while nonstationary objects flew out the hole.
"All of a sudden, we heard this loud bang, rattling, it felt like one of the engines went out," passenger, Kristopher Johnson, told CNN.
"The oxygen masks dropped...It just shredded the left-side engine completely... It was scary."
Southwest Airlines issued a statement saying they were deeply saddened to confirm the fatality.
"The entire Southwest Airlines Family is devastated and extends its deepest, heartfelt sympathy to the customers, employees, family members and loved ones affected by this tragic event," Southwest said in a statement.
The death on the flight from New York appeared to be the first passenger fatality in a US commercial aviation accident since 2009, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.
Earlier, Philadelphia Fire Department Commissioner Adam Thiel told reporters that one passenger had been taken to the hospital in critical condition.
Flight 1380 was diverted to Philadelphia after crew members reported damage to one of the aircraft's engines, its fuselage and at least one window, the Federal Aviation Administration said.
Television images showed that most of the outer casing around the left engine of the Boeing 737-700 had ripped away and a window near the engine on the plane's left side was missing.
Southwest said the aircraft had been bound for Dallas Love Field in Texas from New York's LaGuardia Airport before it diverted to Philadelphia.
The aircraft's maker, Boeing, said on Twitter that it was aware of the incident and was "gathering more information."
Southwest Airlines said the aircraft involved in Tuesday's fatal engine explosion was inspected on Sunday and the airline had not been aware of any previous issues with the jet or its engine.
