Woman partially sucked from plane window after engine ‘exploded’
A mother of two died after being sucked out of a Southwest Airline plane’s blown-out window, when the engine exploded.
An airline passenger has been killed after being partially sucked out of a blown out window, when the plane engine appeared to explode.
Southwest Airlines flight 1380, en route from New York to Dallas, with 143 passengers and five crew, was forced to make an emergency landing in Philadelphia, where the mother of two, identified as Jennifer Riordan, was declared dead and seven other passengers were treated for minor injuries.
Ms Riordan, a Wells Fargo bank executive from New Mexico, had tweeted about her visit to New York before boarding the plane.
Great business stay (@ DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Metropolitan - New York City) #Yelp #Yelfie https://t.co/7KVHapM7fG pic.twitter.com/r1Yg2EjXw7
— Jennifer L. Riordan (@jrior89) April 17, 2018
Passengers said they heard an explosion and a piece of the engine flew off, breaking the window of Row 17 on the left hand side of the plane and sending shattered glass into the plane.
Ms Riordan was partially sucked out of the window, but other passengers caught hold of her and pulled her back in.
In footage aired on TV, a female pilot told emergency services: “We’ve got injured passengers ... (the plane) isn’t on fire but part of it’s missing. There’s a hole and someone went out.”
“One passenger, a woman, was partially … was drawn out towards the out of the plane … was pulled back in by other passengers,” Todd Baur, the father of a passenger, told NBC10.
EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT: Check out this photo from Joe Marcus via twitter--a passenger on the Southwest Airlines Flight 1380 that just made an emergency landing in Philadelphia. pic.twitter.com/fLk42M1kew
— Eyewitness News (@ABC7NY) April 17, 2018
Passenger Marty Martinez said a window exploded midair and posted photo of a damaged window and emergency oxygen masks dangling down. Mr Martinez said a woman suffered a heart attack, but could not say if it was the woman who was sucked out of the window.
“Someone on the plane had a heart attack and it looks like an engine blew out then a window was blown open,” he said on Facebook. “We are still on the plane and they are trying to revive a woman on the plane.”
Passenger Amanda Bourman told the Seattle Times: “I just remember holding my husband’s hand, and we just prayed and prayed and prayed.” She said she saw medical workers using a defibrillator to help one of the passengers.
National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Robert Sumwalt said the engine will be shipped for a detailed examination.
John Goglia, a former NTSB member, told the Seattle Times: “There’s a ring around the engine that’s meant to contain the engine pieces when this happens. In this case it didn’t. That’s going to be a big focal point for the NTSB — why didn’t (the ring) do its job?”
The Federal Aviation Administration said the flight from New York to Dallas made an emergency landing after the crew reported damage to one of the engines, as well as the fuselage and at least one window.
Philadelphia’s fire chief said one person was taken to the hospital in critical condition and seven were treated for minor injuries.
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