Alaska Airlines blowout: Passenger says ordeal was ‘jarring and disorienting’
A passenger on board the plane where part of the fuselage blew off while in the air has said the experience was “jarring” and “disorienting”.
An Alaska Airlines flight was forced to perform an emergency landing on Saturday after a hole was ripped in the space reserved for an extra evacuation door on the Boeing 737-9 MAX jet.
Nicholas Hoch said each minute felt like an hour after he heard a “big boom” or “mini explosion”.
“That was followed instantaneously by a rapid depressurisation of the cabin that consisted of moisture and fluid – almost like a cloud rushing from the front of the plane to the back,” he told Sky News.
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‘We are very, very fortunate’
“My head was on a swivel looking around the entire time trying to figure out what was happening – and what kind of danger we were in.”
Oxygen masks dropped down and flight attendants were quickly communicating to passengers on the intercom system, shouting to “get your masks on” and “get your seatbelts on”, he said.
A “boy” who sat on the row where the hole was made had his shirt ripped off and sucked out of the plane.
But while the plane “fluttered” and lights “flickered”, the passengers heard no other communication and weren’t told about the impending emergency landing, he added.
Sitting 10 rows ahead of the hole, Mr Hoch said the general atmosphere on board was “eerie”, and the passengers around him were “mostly calm”.
His hat was blown off his head, while the people in front had their hair “pushed back”.
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Flight suffers mid-air blowout
“When you’re in that situation there’s not really a lot you can do but hang on… there were a few people that were visibly and vocally upset,” he added.
“A few people stood up on the flight and were yelling some obscenities – shouting ‘there’s an effing hole’… people deal with these situations in different ways.”
The flight had been delayed by about 20 minutes, he said, and “things started to get hairy” five minutes after take-off.
“I think the whole thing lasted about 20-30 minutes, but it felt like four hours.”
Pic: Elizabeth Le/AP
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Mr Hoch said the pilot did a “good job” and addressed the flight once the plane had landed, but they were left “standing for hours” while waiting to hear their next move.
He said it felt like being a “fish out of water”, but he boarded another flight that same night – and he is set to catch a “long flight” later this week.
The airline has since been in touch to apologise, offer a refund and compensation, he said, but there is still no sign of his luggage, which remains missing.
Israel has approved a plan to capture all of the Gaza Strip and remain there for an unspecified length of time, Israeli officials say.
According to Reuters, the plan includes distributing aid, though supplies will not be let in yet.
The Israeli official told the agency that the newly approved offensive plan would move Gaza’s civilian population southward and keep humanitarian aid from falling into Hamas’s hands.
On Sunday, the United Nations rejected what it said was a new plan for aid to be distributed in what it described as Israeli hubs.
Israeli cabinet ministers approved plans for the new offensive on Monday morning, hours after it was announced that tens of thousands of reserve soldiers are being called up.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has so far failed to achieve his goal of destroying Hamas or returning all the hostages, despite more than a year of brutal war in Gaza.
Palestinian children struggle to get donated food at a community kitchen in Khan Younis, Gaza. Pic: AP
Officials say the plan will help with these war aims but it would also push hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to southern Gaza, exacerbating an already dire humanitarian crisis.
They said the plan included the “capturing of the strip and the holding of territories”.
It would also try to prevent Hamas from distributing humanitarian aid, which Israel says strengthens the group’s rule in Gaza.
The UN rejected the plan, saying it would leave large parts of the population, including the most vulnerable, without supplies.
It said it “appears designed to reinforce control over life-sustaining items as a pressure tactic – as part of a military strategy”.
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More than 52,000 Palestinians have been killed since the IDF launched its ground offensive in the densely-populated territory, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
It followed the deadly Hamas attacks on Israel, which killed 1,200 people and saw around 250 people taken hostage.
A fragile ceasefire that saw a pause in the fighting and the exchange of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners collapsed earlier this year.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to retaliate against the Houthis and their Iranian “masters” after the group launched a missile attack on the country’s main international airport.
A missile fired by the group from Yemen landed near Ben Gurion Airport, causing panic among passengers in the terminal building.
“Attacks by the Houthis emanate from Iran,” Mr Netanyahu wrote on X. “Israel will respond to the Houthi attack against our main airport AND, at a time and place of our choosing, to their Iranian terror masters.”
Israeli police officers investigate the missile crater. Pic: Reuters
The missile impact left a plume of smoke and briefly halted flights and commuter traffic at the airport. Some international carriers have cancelled flights to and from Tel Aviv for several days.
Four people were lightly wounded, paramedic service Magen David Adom said.
Air raid sirens went off across Israel and footage showed passengers yelling and rushing for cover.
The attack came hours before senior Israeli cabinet ministers were set to vote on whether to intensify the country’s military operations in the Gaza Strip, and as the army began calling up thousands of reserves in anticipation of a wider operation in the enclave.
Houthi military spokesperson Brigadier General Yahya Saree said the group fired a hypersonic ballistic missile at the airport.
Iran’s defence minister later told a state TV broadcaster that if the country was attacked by the US or Israel, it would target their bases, interests and forces where necessary.
Israel’s military said several attempts to intercept the missile were unsuccessful.
Air, road and rail traffic were halted after the attack, police said, though it resumed around an hour later.
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Yemen’s Houthis have been firing missiles at Israel since its war with Hamas in Gaza began on 7 October 2023, and while most have been intercepted, some have penetrated the country’s missile defence systems and caused damage.
Israel has previously struck the group in Yemen in retaliation and the US and UK have also launched strikes after the Houthis began attacking international shipping, saying it was in solidarity with Palestinians over Israel’s war with Hamas.
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