Southwest Airlines Jet Engine 'Explosion' Leaves Woman Dead

A woman who was partially sucked out of a window of a US passenger plane after an engine exploded in mid-air has died.

Southwest Airlines Flight 1380 made an emergency landing in Philadelphia after a window, wings and fuselage were damaged. Seven passengers were injured.

Initial findings say an engine fan blade was missing. In a recording, one of the pilots can be heard saying "there is a hole and someone went out".

The Boeing 737-700 had been en route from New York's La Guardia airport to Dallas, Texas, with 143 passengers and five crew when the incident happened.


Witnesses say an engine on the plane's left side blew, smashing a window and causing cabin depressurisation that nearly sucked the woman out of the aircraft.

She was pulled back in by other passengers.

The plane made a safe landing at 11:20 (15:20 GMT), fire officials said.

The dead woman was Jennifer Riordan, a mother-of-two and bank vice-president at Wells Fargo in Albuquerque.