Southwest Airlines plane forced into emergency landing after catching fire following takeoff
Rhiannon Ingle
Featured Image Credit: Ricardo Garcia/BON VOYAGED/TMX
A Southwest Airlines plane was forced into an emergency landing after catching fire following takeoff, leaving those on board terrified.
The aircraft, a Boeing 737, was headed from Houston, Texas, to Cancún in Mexico when its engine was engulfed in flames shortly after takeoff on Tuesday (15 August).
The horrifying ordeal was captured on camera by passengers aboard the plane at the time. Check it out:
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According to a statement from the Dallas-based carrier, the plane commenced its emergency landing 'on Tuesday night after experiencing a mechanical issue shortly after takeoff'.
Southwest Airlines has since assured that the plane 'safely' returned to William P. Hobby Airport as part of the landing.
"The aircraft landed safely and was taken out of service for review," the airline added. "A different aircraft continued the flight to Cancun last evening, and we appreciate our customers’ patience and support."
Luckily, no injuries were reported from the unsettling incident.
One video that captured the situation was posted to Twitter in Spanish.
It was captioned with the English translation: "Thanks to the pilots of Southwest Airlines Flight 307 Houston-Cancun for returning us to the ground after losing an engine.
"Thank you!!! I keep trying to understand."
Recalling the situation, a different pair of passengers - Jordan and Lynde Kleinecke - told ABC News: "We felt like a little air pocket going up, and then I heard the boom.
"And then you start smelling the fuel and everything going on."
Lynde added: "When the pilot came on and told us [that] we were going back [to the airport], he hardly finished that statement before he hung up the microphone. We were kind of like, 'What does that mean? What does that mean?'"
Mechanical engineer, Andrew Sandino, saw the frightful scene unfold from the ground, telling NBC News: "I noticed big black plumes of smoke coming out the right engine and then it started shooting really big fireballs out and the plane was shifting back and forth, side to side, pretty heavily."
"I was thinking this plane may crash," he revealed. "If that engine just completely explodes and sends shrapnel everywhere, the plane is going to fizzle out and hit the ground."
Flight 307 was reportedly only in the air for 27 minutes in total according to data from Flight Aware before its passengers were safely back on the ground and moved to a new plane that was not on fire.
UNILAD has reached out to Southwest Airlines for comment.