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  4. Alaska Airlines passengers were hit in the face by debris, struggled with oxygen masks, and one had a seizure after landing, lawsuit says

Alaska Airlines passengers were hit in the face by debris, struggled with oxygen masks, and one had a seizure after landing, lawsuit says

Pete Syme   

Alaska Airlines passengers were hit in the face by debris, struggled with oxygen masks, and one had a seizure after landing, lawsuit says
  • 14 passengers filed a class-action lawsuit against Boeing and Alaska Airlines on Tuesday.
  • One of them was hit in the face by debris that came out of the cockpit, the suit says.

A class-action lawsuit filed against Boeing and Alaska Airlines on Tuesday details passengers' apparent injuries and says some oxygen masks malfunctioned on board Flight 1282.

14 passengers — including three siblings aged one, three, and five — are plaintiffs in the suit seen by Business Insider. It asks for unspecified monetary damages.

The door plug of Flight 1282 came off the Boeing 737 Max 9 jet at an altitude of 16,000 feet on January 5, causing an uncontrolled decompression.

With a gaping hole in the fuselage, the plane returned to Portland International Airport 20 minutes after takeoff and all 177 people on board survived.

"Passengers were shocked and confused, thrust into a waking nightmare unsure if these were their last seconds alive," the lawsuit says.

The cockpit door of the 737 Max is programmed to open when there is a sudden change in pressure as on Flight 1282. When this happened, plaintiff Suzannah Anderson was hit in the face by debris that flew out of the cockpit, causing whiplash and severe headaches, according to the lawsuit.

Anderson also had to switch oxygen masks because hers stopped working, the suit says.

According to the court document, another plaintiff, Iris Ruiz, lost hearing and her left ear bled internally due to the decompression. It adds she also couldn't breathe properly as her oxygen mask didn't appear to work.

The suit alleges that many of the oxygen masks didn't seem to work, and flight attendants carried bottles of oxygen to some passengers, but couldn't help everybody.

It added that one passenger who had difficulty breathing started to pass out.

Another plaintiff, Gwint Fisher, has a seizure disorder that is "generally triggered by stressful situations."

"The trauma of his experience on Flight 1282 resulted in a seizure after he disembarked," the suit says.

The lawsuit accuses Boeing of product liability, and Alaska Airlines of breaching common carrier's duty because it purchased 737 Max planes after Boeing was charged with defrauding the Federal Aviation Administration.

Boeing has come under renewed scrutiny following the blowout as investigators examine why the door plug came off. 171 Boeing 737 Max 9 jets remain grounded pending inspections.



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