Passengers describe as ‘crying and screaming’ before landing

SOUTHWEST BOEING 737-7H4 N953WN (MSN 36668)

A passenger onboard a Southwest Airlines flight that was diverted back to Denver (DEN/KDEN) after suffering a tyre failure says people in the cabin were "crying and screaming" before the plane made an emergency landing.

Southwest Airlines Flight 225 – a Boeing 737-700 – was initially heading to Phoenix (PHX/KPHX) on Monday night.

"When the flight attendants said we were going to have an emergency landing, we started to panic a little bit," passenger Julianna Donadio told reporters. "People were definitely crying and screaming and trying to console one another."

"We knew we blew a tyre, but we didn’t know what the landing gear situation was," she added, describing a loud noise during takeoff. "The cabin crew started preparing us for the crash position, having our head between our knees, they were informing us about the emergency exit line how to open the doors and operate potentially the slides."

"Following standard safety procedures, the pilots declared an emergency prior to landing. The flight landed without incident and taxied off the runway," the spokesperson added. "A separate aircraft operated the scheduled flight to Phoenix departing four hours later."

"We thank our Flight Crew for their professionalism and our customers for their patience," Southwest Airlines also said.

"When we landed everyone was cheering and clapping," Donadio told the media.