Passenger partially 'sucked out of plane window' forcing landing in Philadelphia

Riordan was a vice-president of community relations for Wells Fargo bank. Before leaving New York she had posted on Twitter about her visit there.

News of Riordan's death was first shared by the assistant principal of the Albuquerque Catholic school attended by her two children. In an email to parents, assistant principal Amy McCarty wrote that "the family needs all the prayers we can offer".

Passengers and flight attendants did "some pretty amazing things under some difficult circumstances", Philadelphia Fire Commissioner Adam Thiel said.

Photos from the scene show severe damage to the plane's left engine, its cover ripped off and a window about a metre away been blown out. The Federal Aviation Authority said the crew reported damage to one engine, the fuselage and one window.

The incident caused the plane to descend rapidly and violently, passengers said.

Passenger Marty Martinez did a brief Facebook Live video posting with the caption "Something is wrong with our plane! It appears we are going down! Emergency landing!! Southwest flight from NYC to Dallas!!"

As the plane descended, he wrote several posts saying: "The place is going down!" and "I am freaking out" and then "A window is open!!"

After the plane landed, he posted: "Engine exploded (we think) and shattered one of the windows killing a passenger. Flight attendants ran over calling for passengers to help cover the hole as they broke down and began uncontrollably crying and looking horrified as they looked outside. Plane dropped dramatically and it smelled like fire with ash coming down on everyone thru the vents. Absolutely terrifying, but we are okay."

Martinez told CBS News that he thought he was recording his "last few moments on this earth".

He said there was "blood everywhere" and the woman partially sucked out of the window looked to be dead. She immediately slumped onto the passenger beside her.

"It felt like we were free falling," he told CBS News. "Everyone's freaking out, everyone's crying. It was a scary experience."

Martinez said there appeared to be a problem with the plane's hydraulics so the emergency landing was very rough.

The National Transportation Safety Board confirmed that a woman was killed. A spokesman said the board was treating the incident as an "engine failure" but not an "uncontained engine failure" as it had not determined whether parts that came off the plane were from the engine.

He said there were three or four uncontained engine failures in the US each year.

Philadelphia Fire Commissioner Adam Thiel said they found a fuel leak, a small fire and a damaged engine when they arrived on the scene.

The Federal Aviation Authority said the crew reported damage to one engine, the fuselage and a window.

"Passengers exited the aircraft using air stairs," the FAA said in a statement. "Please contact local emergency response officials for information on the condition of the passengers. The FAA is investigating the incident and the National Transportation Safety Board has been notified. The NTSB will be in charge of the investigation."

News helicopter footage showed damage to the left engine of the plane and the tarmac covered with foam from fire crews.

Philadelphia airport tweeted that flight 1380 "landed safely at PHL and passengers are being brought into the terminal." No other details were given.

A Southwest Airlines spokeman said the airline was in the process of transporting cutomers and crew into the terminal. It said 143 passengers and crew were on board.

"We are in the process of gathering more information," the airline said. "We are working diligently to support our customers and crew at this time."

Tracking data from FlightAware.com shows the flight was heading west over New York's southern tier when it turned abruptly towards Philadelphia.

with AP