Poppy Bilderbeck
A passenger on the Alaska Airlines plane which saw a door 'blow off' mid-air has spoken out.
Emma Vu was one of the 171 passengers onboard Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 set to go from Portland, Oregon to Ontario, California when the 'entire exit row door came off' mid-air.
The Boeing 737-9 MAX lost its door 16,000 feet in the air, which caused the plane to drop suddenly and a gaping hole to be left in the aircraft.
Vu has since spoken out about her harrowing experience on social media and shared the texts she'd sent to her parents, believing they could have been her last.
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Warning: Contains description of plane incident and distressed text messages:
The TikToker - who goes by @shwimshady on the platform - took to her page yesterday (7 January) to open up about the horrifying situation she found herself in.
Vu explained that she was asleep on the flight but woke up suddenly when she felt the 'entire plane drop' after they'd been in the air around 20 minutes.
"No one knew what was happening, a pilot came on and told everyone to put their mask on," she says, noting that she doesn't remember much else until it was all eventually over because of how 'scary' it was.
Vu continues: "In the moment I was so scared, these are literally the exact texts that I was telling my parents and they were freaking out. I'm so glad they were nearby to help me."
Noting some may think it's 'dramatic,' Vu then shows followers her texts to prove how 'drastic' a situation she found herself in 16,000 feet in the air.
The texts show Vu messaging her parents in panic after the masks on the plane were put down.
"I am so scared right now. Please pray for me. Please I don't want to die," a series of messages she sent to a group chat with her parents reads.
Her dad quickly tells her to do the 'brace position' and ask her 'what's going on' and her mom reassures her she's 'going to be OK,' noting how much they both 'love' her.
Thankfully, two kind ladies sat either side of her helped soothe her and Vu notes that the flight attendants were very kind too.
As soon as the door flew off, the plane immediately turned back to Portland, where all passengers were deplaned safely after paramedics came onboard to check them all over.
While saying in her TikTok she'd received 'free snacks' and 'a compensated flight with more legroom,' Vu told CNN that the airline has since sent an email to passengers apologising for the incident as well as compensation - both for the ticket and an additional $1,500 for 'any inconvenience'.
A spokesperson for Alaska Airlines told the New York Post: "We recognize how extremely distressing this incident must have been and we are grateful to you and our crew for everyone’s calm and patience throughout this experience.
"We will fully investigate this incident and work with the relevant authorities to understand what happened."
An investigation into the incident is currently underway - with the door plug having been retrieved from a Portland school teacher's backyard.
Alaska Airlines also announced that it was grounding its entire fleet of Max-9 aircraft following the incident.
UNILAD has contacted Alaska Airlines for further comment.