A passenger on a Southwest Airlines flight that made an emergency landing after an engine burst apart is suing the company, saying she has been suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder sparked by the carriers’ alleged negligence.
Lilia Chavez was sitting three rows behind the window that was shattered by shrapnel from the exploding engine. She says she witnessed the “horror” that followed when the cabin depressurized and pulled fellow passenger Jennifer Riordan part of the way out of the aircraft.
Ms Riordan, a mother of two, later died.
Ms Chavez, a California native, has argued in her federally filed lawsuit that she has been suffering from PTSD, depression and other personal injuries since the fateful flight.
“Ms Chavez witnessed the horror as the force of the depressurization pulled an innocent passenger partially through the shattered window and she watched as passengers risked their lives to pull the passenger back into the aircraft and save her life,” court documents read.
The court documents continue to say that Ms Chavez prayed for her life during the 20 minute ascent into the Philadelphia airport.
She also “contacted her children to tell them that she loved them and that she was preparing to die aboard the crippled aircraft,” according to the court documents.
The lawsuit charged that Southwest Airlines failed to inform passengers about potential defects, and that it had put profits ahead of safety.
“Rather than protect the safety of plaintiff and those who also were fare paying customers, the defendants' misconduct placed profits and business over the safety of its customers and continued to operate these engines,” the court documents read.
Before the incident, Southwest was ranked as the safest airline in the world. Ms Riordan’s death was the first operational fatality of a passenger for the carrier.
The airline has told several news outlets that they do not comment on ongoing litigation. An airline spokesman has said that the engine was inspected days before the incident. An investigation has indicated that a fatigue fracture was the likely cause of the engine failure, and that it would have been difficult for a person to detect that issue by sight.
