Woman 'sucked out of plane window' as passengers scream after exploding engine smashes glass mid-flight
Source "
Terrified plane passengers screamed as a woman was sucked through a broken window after an engine exploded mid-flight.
A Southwest Airlines vehicle was forced to make an emergency landing at Philadelphia International Airport, in the US, this afternoon after reports of a fire onboard.
One passenger's dad said a female passenger was partially pulled through window which had been broken by a flying piece of shrapnel.
Depressurisation is believed to have caused the woman to be sucked through the opening before others intervened and dragged her to safety.
Officials said one person was taken to hospital.
"One passenger, a woman, was partially drawn out towards the outside of the plane and was pulled back in by other passengers," Todd Baur, the father of one passenger said.
The plane had 143 passengers on board and five crew.
Passenger Marty Martinez posted a Facebook Live during the emergency landing, which happened at around 11am local time.
"Something is wrong with our plane," she wrote. "It appears we are going down! Emergency landing!! Southwest flight from NYC to Dallas!!"
Mr Martinez told US news channel CBSN he thought he was recording his "last moments". He said there was "blood everywhere".
In a comment on his Facebook Live post, he wrote: "Flight attendants ran over calling for passengers to help cover the hole as they broke down and began uncontrollably crying and looking horrified as they looked outside.
"Plane dropped dramatically and it smelled like fire with ash coming down on everyone thru the vents. Absolutely terrifying, but we are okay."
Another passenger told CNN: "It was a stable landing. We started descending, made the turn back to Philadelphia.
"We were with one engine for maybe 10 minutes.
"We decreased altitude from 8,000 to 5,000 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."
Southwest Flight 1380 left LaGuardia Airport in New York City and was en route for Dallas when it was diverted to Philadelphia International.
A video filmed at the scene showed several firefighting vehicles surrounding the jet on the tarmac.
A large amount of fluid was seen under the left side of the plane.
In a statement, the airline said: "Southwest Airlines flight 1380, which departed LaGuardia for Dallas Love Field, diverted to PHL because of an operational event.
"The plane landed safely. No slides were deployed."
America’s National Transportation Safety Board has launched an investigation.
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