A Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft made an emergency landing in the US state of Oregon on Friday after a part of its body, including a porthole, fell off in midair, the BBC reports.
According to one of the passengers, the gap was the width of a refrigerator, and photos from the cabin show a large patch of night sky next to the people's seats.
The incident with the fuselage occurred at an altitude of about 5 km. There were 177 passengers and crew members on board the plane. According to representatives of the operator, Alaska Airlines, none of them were injured.
Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 took off from Portland, Oregon, en route to California, but returned to its original airport 35 minutes after takeoff.
The airline assured the public that the plane landed safely.
Representatives of Alaska Airlines also said that they were "temporarily" suspending flights of all 65 Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft for inspections.
Boeing said it was aware of the Alaska Airlines crash and was "working to gather additional information".
The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is also investigating the incident.
According to experts, this incident is unlikely to be related to previous problems with the Boeing 737 Max 9 related to flaws in the MCAS automated piloting system software.
Background. In 2019, the authorities of many countries around the world banned the use of these aircraft after two major airplane crashes occurred under similar circumstances, killing 346 people. The issue was a flaw in the MCAS automated piloting system software.
The ban on Boeing 737 Max flights began to be lifted in 2021. According to British aviation expert John Strickland, the aircraft has had the "highest safety record" since then.