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One passenger dead after Southwest Airlines flight makes an emergency landing

One passenger dead after Southwest Airlines flight makes an emergency landing

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First fatality for a US airline in nine years

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Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images

A Southwest flight en route from New York City to Dallas made an emergency landing in Philadelphia after one of its engines blew out, shattering a window, leaving one passenger dead and injuring seven others. One female passenger was almost sucked out of the plane after the explosion caused a depressurization, the passenger’s father told MSNBC. It is unclear, though, whether she was the passenger that ultimately died.

National Traffic Safety Board chairman Robert Sumwalt said in a news conference that the passenger’s death was the first fatality for a US airline in nine years. (Asiana Airlines Flight 214 crashed in San Francisco in 2013, leaving three passengers dead.)

The cabin suddenly lost pressure at 30,000 feet when engine debris pierced the window and flight attendants were crying, one passenger said in an interview with Bloomberg.

Some passengers on Southwest 1380 posted frightening images on Twitter of the aftermath of the emergency landing. Images showed an extremely damaged engine, as well as a shattered cabin window with exposed insulation.

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