Southwest passenger's death was the first fatality on a US passenger airline in more than 9 years

Corey Perrine / Associated Press

Prior to Tuesday, the most recent fatal accident on a US passenger airline came in February 2009 near Buffalo, New York.

• On Tuesday, Southwest Airlines Flight 1380 from New York to Dallas made an emergency landing at Philadelphia International Airport after one of its engines failed and caused an explosion that sent shrapnel into the cabin.
• One passenger died as a result of the accident and seven received minor injuries, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.
• NTSB chairman Robert Sumwalt said the death was the first on a US passenger airline in over nine years.

On Tuesday, Southwest Airlines Flight 1380 from New York to Dallas made an emergency landing at Philadelphia International Airport after one of its engines failed and caused an explosion that sent shrapnel into the cabin. One passenger died as a result of the accident and seven received minor injuries, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. The deceased passenger has not been identified.

NTSB chairman Robert Sumwalt said the death was the first on a US passenger airline in over nine years. Prior to Tuesday, the most recent fatal accident came in February 2009 near Buffalo, New York, when an aircraft operated by the now-defunct regional airline Colgan Air crashed and killed 50 people, including 49 on board and one person on the ground. 

The NTSB said on Twitter that it would send a team to investigate Tuesday's crash. 

One of the passengers on the flight, Marty Martinez, told CBS News about the incident while still on the aircraft.

Martinez said it appeared the plane's left engine had exploded and broken a window in the aircraft's seventeenth row about 30 minutes into the flight. He described "an older woman" who was injured as a result of the explosion and removed from the aircraft in what appeared to be critical condition.

"There is blood everywhere," he said.

After the explosion, oxygen masks were released and the displaced engine reportedly broke through a window. Martinez started streaming his experience on Facebook Live. He said he thought he was documenting the last moments of his life.

"I thought I was cataloging the last moments of my existence the whole way ... It was absolutely terrifying," he said.

According to Martinez, the aircraft descended for 10-15 minutes before making an emergency landing. But during the descent, Martinez said he and some of the plane's other passengers thought they wouldn't land safely.

"It felt like it was free-falling going down," he said. "Of course, everyone's freaking out. Everybody's crying. It was the scariest experience."