Passenger dies after being partially sucked out of plane as window smashed

A woman has died after a US passenger plane blew an engine at 32,000ft and got hit by shrapnel that smashed a window, causing her to be partially sucked out of the window.

The incident sparked a desperate scramble by passengers to save the woman from getting pulled out of the plane by the sudden decompression, but she later died and seven others were injured.

The pilots of the Southwest Airlines plane, a twin-engined Boeing 737 flying from New York to Dallas with 149 people aboard, took it into a rapid descent and made an emergency landing in Philadelphia as passengers using oxygen masks said their prayers and braced for impact.

She was the first passenger killed in an accident involving a US airline since 2009.

New Mexico governor Susana Martinez said the hearts of all New Mexicans were with Ms Riordan’s family.

The National Transportation Safety Board said a preliminary examination of the blown engine from Flight 1380 showed evidence of “metal fatigue”.

In a news conference, NTSB chairman Robert Sumwalt said one of the engine’s fan blades was separated and missing. The blade was separated at the point where it would come into the hub and there was evidence of metal fatigue.

As a precaution, Southwest said it will inspect similar engines in its fleet over the next 30 days.

Photos of the plane on the tarmac showed a missing window and a chunk gone from the left engine, including part of its cover.

Mr Sumwalt said part of the engine covering was found in Bernville, Pennsylvania, about 70 miles west of Philadelphia.

A transcript of the conversation between the pilots and officials on the ground shows one of the pilots asking for emergency services to ready for the landing.

Pilot Tammie Jo Shults says: “OK, could you have the medical meet us there on the runway as well. We’ve got injured passengers.”

Asked if the plane was on fire, she said: “Not on fire but part of it is missing. They said there’s a hole and someone went out.”

Passengers commended Ms Shults, a former US Navy fighter pilot, for her cool-headed handling of the emergency. She walked down the aisle and talked to passengers to make sure they were OK after the plane touched down.

“She has nerves of steel. That lady, I applaud her,” said Alfred Tumlinson, of Texas. “I’m going to send her a Christmas card, I’m going to tell you that, with a gift certificate for getting me on the ground. She was awesome.”

“Everybody was crying and upset,” she said. “You had a few passengers that were very strong, and they kept yelling to people, you know, ‘It’s OK! We’re going to do this!'”

Mr Tumlinson said a man in a cowboy hat rushed forward a few rows “to grab that lady to pull her back in. She was out of the plane. He couldn’t do it by himself, so another gentleman came over and helped to get her back in the plane, and they got her”.

Eric Zilbert, from California, said: “From her waist above, she was outside of the plane.”

Passengers struggled to plug the hole while giving the badly injured woman CPR.