One passenger aboard a Dallas-bound Southwest Airlines plane has been killed after the jet had to make an emergency landing on Tuesday.
It marks the first death on a U.S. commercial flight since 2009.
Ro Aram reports...
The Boeing 737 was heading from New York to Dallas with 149 people onboard.
It made an emergency landing in Philadelphia just before noon on Tuesday, local time.
The National Transportation Safety Board did confirm that one death had been reported, but did not elaborate on the specific circumstances.
Seven others are being treated for minor injuries.
Survivors say the plane suffered damage to one of its engines, which threw a piece of shrapnel onto a window, causing it to break.
A woman sitting nearby was said to have been seriously injured as she was sucked toward the broken window.
After pulling the woman back inside, passengers attempted to block the opening with jackets and other objects, but their efforts all came to nothing as the objects were all sucked out of the plane.
Survivors also praised the pilot for regaining control of what would have been a steep downward fall.
Videos shot after the emergency landing show a badly damaged engine on the left wing.
The NTSB is on the scene to investigate and the engine will be taken apart and examined to understand what caused the failure.
In a recording of conversations between the cockpit and air traffic controllers, a crew member can be heard reporting a hole in the plane, as well as damage to the plane's engine and fuselage.
In August 2016, a Southwest Airlines 737 flying from New Orleans to Orlando was forced to make an emergency landing in Florida due to engine failure.
Ro Aram, Arirang News.
