A US passenger jet has made an emergency landing in Philadelphia after part of the covering on its left engine got ripped off.
A window and part of the fuselage were also damaged, officials say.
The Southwest Airlines plane was flying from New York’s La Guardia airport to Dallas, Texas, with 143 passengers and five crew aboard.
The Boeing Co 737-700 made a safe landing but at least one person is said to have been injured.
The US Federal Aviation Administration has opened an investigation.
The father of one passenger aboard the plane told NBC Philadelphia that a woman was “partially sucked out” of a window after it was pierced by debris from the engine.
The woman was pulled back inside the fuselage by other passengers, Todd Bauer added.
Fearing the worst
“All of a sudden, we heard this loud bang, rattling…” said one passenger.
“It just shredded the left-side engine completely… it was scary,” Kristopher Johnson told CNN.
Photos have been shared on social media showing passengers sitting in oxygen masks as the plane shudders around them.
Timothy Bourman, a pastor from New York City, told The Inquirer and Daily News he had been sitting in the rear of the plane when he heard a loud boom.
“All the sudden, it felt like we dropped 100 feet,” he said.
“We were kind of out of control for a while. It seemed like the pilot was having a hard time controlling the plane. Honestly I think we just all thought we were going down.”
When flight attendants told passengers to brace for impact, Mr Bourman said he and his wife worried for the worst.
“We’re just all really thankful to be alive right now,” he said. “Thankful to God, thankful to that pilot.”
Passenger Marty Martinez posted a brief Facebook live with the caption: “Something is wrong with our plane! It appears we are going down! Emergency landing!! Southwest flight from NYC to Dallas!!”
After landing, he told CBS News that it felt like the plane was “free-falling”.
“First there was an explosion and then almost immediately the oxygen masks came down and probably within a matter of 10 seconds the engine hit a window and busted it wide open.”
