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'There's a hole and someone went out': Pilot's distressing call to air traffic control

A pilot on board a Southwest Airlines flight that suffered catastrophic engine failure has made a distressing call to air traffic control, telling them a passenger had been sucked out of the window.

One passenger was killed on Southwest flight 1380 when the Boeing 737 encountered a problem with an engine after take-off from New York's LaGuardia airport bound for Dallas shortly after 11am on Tuesday morning.

The passenger killed 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.

Mr Martinez captured this image of the blown out engine after the plane touched down in Philadelphia. Source: Facebook/Marty Martinez
Mr Martinez captured this image of the blown out engine after the plane touched down in Philadelphia. Source: Facebook/Marty Martinez
Passenger Marty Martinez shared images from on-board the plane. Source: Facebook/Marty Martinez
Passenger Marty Martinez shared images from on-board the plane. Source: Facebook/Marty Martinez

As passengers and cabin crew desperately attempted to pull the passenger back into the aircraft, the pilot at the helm of the aircraft made a distressing call as they prepared to make an emergency landing at Philadelphia International Airport.

“We have part of the aircraft missing, so we’re gonna need to slow down a bit,” the pilot says.

“Could you have medical meet us there on the runway as well. We’ve got injured passengers.”

After the Air Traffic Controller on the other end advises to remain altitude, the pilot revealed the news being relayed to them from the cabin.

“They said there is a hole and someone went out,” the pilot responds.

“It’s [the plane] is not on fire but part of it’s missing.”

Passenger Kristopher Johnson praised the pilots and crew for bringing the plane down safely. Source: Twitter/Kristopher Johnson
Passenger Kristopher Johnson praised the pilots and crew for bringing the plane down safely. Source: Twitter/Kristopher Johnson

“Start looking for the airport. It’s off to your right and slightly behind you there,” air traffic control responds.

“Altitude is your discretion. Use caution for the downtown area.”

Passengers tried in vain to plug the hole in the window as the plane started to plummet and tilt in turbulence with flight attendants crying and passengers instructed to brace for landing, passenger Marty Martinez said.

"There's blood everywhere... it just felt like a free fall," he said.

"It was the scariest experience." The woman was hit by flying shrapnel, causing her to pass out and bleed, Martinez told CBS.

It was the first fatal incident in US commercial aviation since the crash of Colgan Air Flight 3407 in February 2009, a Bombardier Dash-8 on a scheduled flight from Newark, New Jersey to Buffalo, New York. Fifty people were killed.