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Passengers on a Southwest Airlines flight from Cuba to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, experienced panic and chaos after a bird strike forced the plane to make an emergency landing. The Boeing 737, carrying 147 passengers and six crew members, had just taken off from Havana when smoke started filling the cabin, apparently due to birds striking the engines and the nose of the plane.
However, the pilot returned the flight safely to Havana, and there were no reported injuries, according to Southwest Airlines.
In shocking cell phone footage recorded inside the cabin, passengers are seen desperately trying to punch the ceilings over their seats to release the oxygen masks as the layer of smoke begins to overwhelm the worried passengers.
Screams, panic murmurings from adults, and the cries of a child are heard as passengers remain clueless about what is going on, with one traveller describing hearing a “boom” before the smoke began filling the cabin. Several passengers reported their masks did not fall when smoke began to fill the cabin. Some passengers reportedly banged their knuckles bloody on the roof to have their masks come down.
After the plane landed safely at Marti Airport, passengers were seen using the jet’s emergency slide to disembark the aircraft, with emergency personnel waiting nearby. In another video, the crowd of passengers was seen walking disorientedly down the tarmac, with many coughing violently and still screaming from the chaos.
When asked about what led to the horrifying incident, one passenger recalled hearing “a big boom. Like an explosion.” Several passengers on the Fort Lauderdale-bound flight said their air masks on the plane did not deploy when smoke filled the cabin.
“We commend the swift, professional actions of our pilots and flight attendants in responding to this event. We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience and have reached out to address their needs and offer support,” Southwest said in a statement about the incident.
Radio Rebelde, Cuba’s state-run media, reported that the plane “detected failures in one of its engines during the takeoff process,” citing the Cuban Aviation Corporation SA (CACSA). CNN reported that the CACSA reported that an investigation is underway and the airport would continue its operations as usual.
Southwest Airlines said the company would “review the aircraft to assess the damage but do not have additional details to share at this time” when asked about the reported engine failure.
»Airline passengers panic as plane makes emergency landing«
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