HORROR AT 32,000FT
One passenger killed and seven are injured as woman is almost sucked out of jet window shattered by mid-air engine explosion
passengers battled to stop a woman being sucked out of a plane after an engine exploded at 32,000 feet yesterday and shrapnel smashed a window.
The terrifying mid-air drama left one person dead as the Boeing 737 plummeted towards the ground before the pilot made an emergency landing.
It was unclear last night if the passenger who died was the woman who had been sitting next to the window and was partly pulled out of it before being grabbed.
she was taken to hospital in a critical condition with head injuries after the southwest airlines jet landed in philadelphia.
One witness said there was ‘blood everywhere’.
seven other people needed treatment for what were said to be minor injuries.
The plane was flying from new York to Dallas with 149 people on board when, according to crew members, the left engine exploded and debris hit a window. Oxygen masks were immediately deployed as the cabin lost pressure and the jet started to plunge. although some passengers panicked and started screaming, most were said to have remained quiet and calm.
Timothy Bourman, 37, was sitting at the back of the plane when he heard a loud boom. He said: ‘all of a sudden it felt like we dropped 100ft. We were kind of out of control for a while.
‘It seemed like the pilot was having a hard time controlling the plane. Honestly I think we just all thought we were going down.’
His wife amanda added: ‘I just remember holding my husband’s hand, and we just prayed and prayed and prayed. We’re just all really thankful to be alive. Thankful to god, thankful to that pilot.’
passengers named the pilot as Tammy Jo shults. as the drama unfolded she called ground controllers and asked for paramedics to meet them, saying: ‘We have a part of the aircraft missing.’ asked if the plane was on fire, she said: ‘no, it’s not on fire but part of it’s missing. They said there is a hole and someone went out.’
Todd Bauer, the father of a passenger, told a local TV station: ‘One passenger, a woman, was partially drawn out of the plane. she was pulled back in by other passengers.’ They are said to have held her down for 12 minutes until the plane landed. passengers shared videos and photos from on board before the plane landed as they descended at 3,000ft per minute until levelling out at 10,000ft. Marty Martinez said he paid $8 to connect to wifi as the plane was going down in order to say his goodbyes.
He posted a video on Facebook with the caption: ‘something is going wrong with our plane! It appears we are going down! emergency landing!! southwest flight from nYC to Dallas!’
The footage, which was streamed live on the social media platform, showed Mr Martinez breathing heavily into an emergency oxygen mask. another video he uploaded captured the plane on its horrifying descent, shaking from side to side. It is thought the plane fell towards the ground at 50ft a second.
some passengers could be heard crying and others shouted words of encouragement.
One told Cnn: ‘We were with one engine for maybe ten minutes. We decreased altitude and then when we finally landed it was relatively smooth, kind of a typical landing, so the crew and the pilots did a fantastic job.’
The national Transportation safety Board is to investigate the incident.