Latest News

Woman Killed After Engine Explodes On Southwest Airlines Flight

This is devastating

A mother-of-two from New Mexico has been identified as the passenger killed on a Southwest Airlines flight after an engine exploded mid-flight.

43-year-old Wells Fargo bank executive Jennifer Riordan was killed in the horror flight that left seven others injures, CBS reports. 

The twin-engine Boeing 737 from New York’s La Guardia Airport to Dallas—which had 149 people—blew an engine at 32,000 feet and was forced to make an emergency landing at Philadelphia Airport.

Terrified passengers say shrapnel caused a window to blow out; the woman sitting next to the opening was sucked out of the jet but pulled back inside.

It is unclear whether Ms Riordan was the passenger who was pulled back into the plane. 

“You hear the pop and she was sucked out from the waist up,” a passenger told NBC Nightly News.

“There was blood on the windows…her arms were actually out of the airplane and her head was out of the airplane.” 

Ms Riordan had reportedly been married to husband Michael for 20 years and had a young son and a daughter.

She described herself in her Twitter bio as: “@wellsfargo proud Team Member. Wife, mom of two, baseball fan, wine and coffee lover, passionate about my community.”

The horror accident marks the first fatality on a US-registered airline since 2009.

“I just remember holding my husband’s hand, and we just prayed and prayed and prayed,” passenger Amanda Bourman told CBS.

“And the thoughts that were going through my head of course were about my daughters, just wanting to see them again and give them a big hug so they wouldn’t grow up without parents.”

Related stories