A Southwest Airlines jet made an emergency landing in Charleston, West Virginia, on Monday after a football-sized hole in its fuselage caused the cabin to depressurize, an airline spokeswoman said.
There were no injuries aboard the Boeing 737, which was traveling at about 30,000 feet when the problem occurred, Southwest spokeswoman Marilee McInnis told CNN. The sudden drop in cabin pressure caused the jet’s oxygen masks to deploy. Southwest Flight 2294 was en route from Nashville, Tennessee, to Baltimore, Maryland, with 126 passengers and a crew of five aboard, McInnis said. It landed at 6:07 p.m. after the crew reported a football-sized hole in the middle of the cabin near the top of the aircraft, McInnis said. What caused the damage to the jet had not been determined, she said. Both the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the incident, FAA spokeswoman Holly Baker said. Southwest dispatched a replacement aircraft to take passengers on to Baltimore. See map of flight path ยป Charleston airport spokesman Brian Belcher said a local pizzeria provided food for the passengers as they waited. The damaged jet will remain on the ground there until federal inspectors can examine it, he said.
