Southwest Flight Makes Emergency Landing After Piece Of Engine Breaks Window, Causing 'Violent' Depressurization
A Southwest Airlines flight from New York City to Dallas was forced to make an emergency landing in Philadelphia after a piece of the plane's engine broke off and broke a window on the plane, causing the cabin to "violently depressurize." Officials say one person was killed as a result of the incident. Others suffered minor injuries.
According to one passenger's father, a female passenger was partially sucked out of the plane and had to be pulled back in by other passengers.
Passenger Marty Martinez told CBS News that there was "blood everywhere" on the plane. He posted photos of the blown-out window, and it looks serious:
Passenger Joe Marcus posted a photo of the plane's engine after landing:
Southwest issued a statement on the incident on Tuesday afternoon:
Southwest CEO Gary Kelly posted a video statement on YouTube:
Peter Goelz, former Managing Director of the National Transportation Safety Board told CNN that it appeared that "pieces of the internal engine exited the cowling of the engine" and "penetrated into the fuselage," which caused pressure to drop.
We'll update this post with more as it comes in.
