A death has been confirmed by Southwest Airlines and federal investigators, just a few hours after a Southwest flight from New York LaGuardia to Dallas Texas was forced to make an emergency landing due to an engine explosion which smashed a window, leading to a depressurisation and projecting shrapnel into the jet’s cabin and almost sucking a woman out of the window according to witnesses.
The flight had 144 and customers and five Southwest crew members onboard at the time of the incident. Eight passengers were treated in hospital following the planes landing; one passenger was later confirmed to have died and it is currently assumed this is due to a head trauma.
The chaos was captured by passenger Marty Martinez in a live video on his Facebook page which can be seen in full above.
Image credit: Marty Martinez
“Something is wrong with our plane! It appears we are going down! Emergency landing!!” Marty can be heard saying in the brief video.
The father of the woman who was partially sucked out of the cabin window shared a recount of his daughter’s terrifying experience in a NBC phone interview.
“One passenger, a woman, was partially … was drawn out towards the out of the plane… she was pulled back by other passengers.”
Image credit: Marty Martinez
Southwest airlines confirmed Flight 1380 made an emergency diversion to Philadelphia International Airport after, “crew reported issues with the number one engine which resulted in damage to the fuselage.”
A statement from the “Southwest Family” shared how “deeply saddened” the company was over the loss.
“We are deeply saddened to confirm that there is one fatality resulting from this accident,” the statement reads.
“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. We have activated our emergency response team and are deploying every resource to support those affected by this tragedy.”
