Passenger killed after engine blows on Southwest Airlines flight

By The Associated Press

One passenger was killed and seven others were injured when a Southwest Airlines jet apparently blew an engine at about 30,000 feet.

Shrapnel smashed a window and damaged the fuselage.

The plane was a Boeing 737 bound from New York to Dallas with 149 people aboard.

It made an emergency landing in Philadelphia just before noon as passengers breathing through oxygen masks that dropped from the ceiling prayed and braced for impact.

A crew member on a plane that made an emergency landing in Philadelphia reported to air traffic controllers that a piece of the plane was missing and “someone went out.”

In the audio recording of the exchange, the crew member says the plane needed to slow down.

Photos posted by passengers showed a heavily damaged window near the damaged engine.

National Transportation Safety Board chairman Robert Sumwalt says today’s incident marks the first passenger fatality in a U.S. airline accident since 2009.

The Federal Aviation Administration said the plane landed after the crew reported damage to one of the engines, along with the fuselage and at least one window.

The NTSB sent a team of investigators to Philadelphia.

One passenger says the plane was fairly quiet because everyone was wearing an oxygen mask, while some passengers were in tears and others shouted words of encouragement.

Amanda Bourman of New York says while many were crying and upset, a few passengers kept yelling to people that they would get through it.

Bourman says everyone clapped and praised the pilot after he set the aircraft down.

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