The United States was shocked when news of Southwest Airlines 1380 hit the headlines yesterday. The frightening flight departed from LaGuardia Airport in New York and headed to Dallas, Texas. However, 20 minutes in the flight, the plane reached 30,000 feet up in the air when one of the engines exploded.
Debris from the exploded engine hit one of the windows. The busted window caused an unfortunate incident that involved a female passenger almost sucked out of the plane as she sat close to the open window.
RELATED: Female pilot lauded for her ‘Nerves Of Steel’ during emergency landing
h/t: cnn.com
To everyone’s relief, the 149 souls onboard safely landed in Philadelphia after an emergency landing. The incident highlighted the pilot’s courage. Tammie Jo Shults has “nerves of steel” when she dealt with the situation calmly.
Twitter | @jrior89
In the unfortunate accident, a mother of two and business executive, Jennifer Riordan, whose upper body was partially sucked out of the jagged opening despite wearing a seatbelt due to decompression.
In the midst of panic, fellow passengers helped the mother before she was out of the aircraft. Tim McGinty, jumped into action and tried his best to pull Riordan back inside the plane. Riordan is 43-year-old Wells Fargo executive from Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Tim was sitting a few rows behind Riordan and he saw what happened and did not think twice and helped his fellow passenger even risking his life in the process.
Facebook | Kristen McGinty
When media got in touch with him, Tim humbly said, “A guy helped and we got her pulled in and they tried to resuscitate her.” He avoided taking all the credit as there are other passengers that should be called a hero that day.
His wife, Kristen, who was traveling with him, was not surprised with her husband’s heroic act. In the media interview, Kristen said that his husband really like to help others in need.
h/t: everipedia.org
As soon as they pulled Riordan back inside the plane, firefighter from Celinas, Texas named Andrew Needum, gave her first aid by resuscitating her.
Another passenger and nurse Peggy Phillips who sat a few rows in front of Riordan helped Needum in reviving the mother of two.
h/t: news.com.au
They spent 20 minutes trying to revive Riordan using CPR. However, Riordan did not make it and died in the accident. Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s Office claimed that Riordan died of “blunt trauma impact.”
“If you can possibly imagine going through the window of an airplane at about 600 mph and hitting either the fuselage or the wing with your body, with your face, then I think I can probably tell you there was significant trauma.”