UPDATE: A woman has died as a result of the explosion of an engine on the Southwest airplane:
Jennifer Riordan, 43, a mother-of-two from Albuquerque, was on a business trip when the plane’s left engine exploded sending shrapnel flying into a window next to her seat (more details below).
This is just breaking and is a first-hand look at video and photos taken inside a Southwest Airlines jet that was en route from New York to Dallas that made an emergency landing in Philadelphia on Tuesday morning after an engine blew in flight, authorities said. A woman was partially sucked out of the window but was pulled in by passengers (see below).
NBC Philadelphia reports:
A Southwest Airlines flight landed safely in Philadelphia Tuesday after the jet violently depressurized when a piece of an engine flew into and broke a window, a passenger’s father tells NBC10.
The father, Todd Baur, said that a female passenger was partially sucked out of the plane when the window imploded.
“One passenger, a woman, was partially … was drawn out towards the out of the plane … was pulled back in by other passengers,” he said in a phone interview with NBC10.
The Dallas-bound Boeing 737-700 made an emergency landing at Philadelphia International Airport around 11:30 a.m. Tuesday after taking off from LaGuardia Airport in New York City. There were 149 people onboard.
“There is a hole in the side of the aircraft, also,” the aircraft controller relayed to firefighters at the airport.
Marty Martinez took first-hand video and photos of what happened right after the explosion:
https://www.facebook.com/marty.martinez.96/videos/10211397333391263/
He was taking video and commenting: “Something is wrong with our plane! It appears we are going down! Emergency landing!!
The video is choppy but it’s understandable considering the circumstances.
https://www.facebook.com/marty.martinez.96/videos/10211397296550342/
It’s rare that you see something like this mid-flight:
https://www.facebook.com/marty.martinez.96/videos/10211397649479165/?permPage=1