Southwest Airlines plane fills with smoke and makes emergency landing in Cuba after bird strike

A Southwest Airlines flight from Cuba to Florida was forced to return to Havana for an emergency landing on Sunday after a bird strike and engine failure in an incident that filled the cabin with smoke, the airline and Cuban officials said.

Southwest Airlines Flight 3923 had just taken off from Havana and was bound for Fort Lauderdale late Sunday morning when the plane was believed to have “experienced bird strikes on the aircraft’s engine and nose,” an airline spokesman said.

Pilots discovered a problem with one of the plane’s engines after a bird strike, Cuban Aviation Corporation SA said. The airline did not immediately confirm the engine malfunction.

The video, taken from the plane, shows that the cabin is filled with smoke, and passengers begin to panic.

“No one could breathe. It burned in my lungs,” one passenger, Marco Antonio, told NBC’s Early TODAY. “People were just screaming. The children were screaming,” he said.

The plane made an emergency landing at José Marti International Airport in Havana.
The plane made an emergency landing at José Marti International Airport in Havana.Roberto Leon / NBC News

The pilots were able to land the plane safely in Havana, according to an airline spokesman, and passengers had to evacuate the plane using ladders due to smoke in the cabin. They were then taken by bus to the airport terminal and were expected to be put on another flight to Fort Lauderdale.

“We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience and have extended a helping hand to meet their needs and offer support,” a spokesman for the airline said.

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