One dead after engine explodes on Southwest flight

An engine on a Dallas-bound Southwest flight with 149 people aboard apparently exploded on Tuesday, forcing an emergency landing in Philadelphia as one passenger was killed and another one was nearly sucked out a window of the plane, the airline and federal officials said. The fatality on the flight from New York was the first in a US commercial aviation accident since 2009, according to NTSB statistics. After an engine on the plane’s left side blew, it threw off shrapnel, shattering a window and causing cabin depressurisation that nearly pulled out a female passenger, according to witness accounts and local news media reports. “We have a part of the aircraft missing, so we’re going to need to slow down a bit,” the plane’s captain, Tammy Jo Shults told air traffic controllers. Asked by a controller if the jet was on fire, Shults responds it was not but added, “They said there is a hole and someone went out. A woman was partially, was drawn out of the plane and pulled back in by other passengers,” said Todd Bauer, whose daughter was on the flight. NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt said that one person had been killed, but declined to elaborate. The fatality was a passenger, according to Southwest CEO Gary Kelly. “The entire Southwest Airlines Family is devastated and extends its deepest, heartfelt sympathy to the customers, employees, family members and loved ones affected by this tragic event,” Southwest said in a statement. Flight 1380 had 144 passengers and five crew members, Sumwalt said.<br/>