Los Angeles, Ca
Man seated behind gaping fuselage hole on SoCal-bound Alaska Airlines flight speaks out
A man on the SoCal-bound Alaska Airlines plane who was seated right behind a portion of the fuselage that was pulled off the jetliner in mid-air is speaking out and sharing new cell phone video of the incident.
The incident occurred on Jan. 5 after Alaska Flight 1282 departed Portland, Oregon at around 5 p.m. headed for the Ontario International Airport.
Passengers were airborne for about 20 minutes when they reported hearing a loud boom that led to a large door plug being ripped from the plane, leaving a gaping hole at 16,000 feet that caused an “explosive decompression” and suction of freezing air.
Miraculously, no one was sitting in row 26 where the door plug exploded off the plane, but Huy Tran, who recorded harrowing video of the terrifying event, was seated in the middle directly behind the portion of the Boeing 737 Max 9 that came off the aircraft.
“I opened my eyes to a giant hole in the plane and I could see the city lights,” he told KTLA’s Chris Wolfe. “The first few seconds was just pure shock and confusion, ‘Is this really happening?’”
The passenger seated next to him in the window seat, his friend Cuong Tran, had his socks, shoes and cell phone sucked out of the hole in the jetliner. The suction was so strong, it also lifted Cuong’s body above his seat and began to pull his legs toward the gaping hole.
“I was like, ‘What the heck is going on?’ My mind was all over the place,” Cuong said. “The kid, I saw half of his body was sucked out of the airplane too and his clothing and everything else and I was like, ‘Oh, my God!’”
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Images from Huy Tran who was seated in the middle seat directly behind the row where the door plug was ripped off a SoCal-bound Alaska Air flight on Jan. 5, 2024. (Huy Tran) -
Cuong Tran suffered brusies and a sprained ankle during an “explosive decompression” event aboard a SoCal-bound Alaska Air flight on Jan. 5, 2024. (Huy Tran)
The pilot made an emergency landing back at PDX, and while everyone survived, Cuong suffered bruises and a sprained ankle.
“We couldn’t even talk to each other. I mean, me and Cuong were face to face and we couldn’t hear each other at all because it was so loud,” Huy recalled.
Their friend Tram Vo was seated in row 12 with her family, who all heard the blast and the rush of cold air through the cabin, but they had no idea what had happened.
“I was so scared to look around and at this time, we could still hear the wind coming from the back of the plane,” she said.
Several days after the frightening ordeal, Cuong’s cellphone was found intact on the ground in Portland. It was returned to Alaska Airlines and eventually its rightful owner. It still works.
“Pretty much no damage at all besides some dirt,” Cuong said. “It’s pretty crazy.”
The Federal Aviation Administration on Thursday launched an investigation into the Boeing 737 Max 9 jetliners, saying in a statement that, “This incident should have never happened, and it cannot happen again.”
The FAA now joins the National Transportation Safety Board in looking for the cause of the blowout.
In the meantime, every 737 Max 9 with a door plug has been grounded indefinitely.
A hospital needs help identifying a male patient who was found injured and unconscious in downtown Los Angeles.
The man is believed to be in his 30s, according to the Los Angeles General Medical Center.
He was found injured on the ground on Omar Street and has been hospitalized since June 22.
He stands 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighs 176 pounds. He has brown eyes, dark brown hair and tattoos across his upper body.
He did not have any personal belongings to help staff identify him or contact loved ones. Workers did not disclose the nature of his injuries.
Anyone who recognizes the man is asked to call clinical social worker Cesar Robles at 323-409-6885.
The public can also call the L.A. General Medical Center’s Department of Social Work at 323-409-5253 or, after hours from 5 p.m. to 8 a.m., call 323-409-6883. On weekends, call 323-409-5254.
Police are asking the public for help Wednesday in identifying a hit-and-run driver who left a woman badly injured in Long Beach late last month. The May 24 crash occurred around 11 p.m. as the victim was crossing East 2nd Street, according to the Long Beach Police Department. Video provided by police showed a dark-colored […]
WARNING: Video footage contains graphic violence
A 62-year-old street vendor is recovering after a brutally violent attack by another woman in broad daylight as bystanders in downtown Los Angeles looked on.
The attack happened around 4 p.m. on June 15 in the 700 block of Figueroa Street, where Arabelia Martinez has sold hot dogs for years to support herself and her family.
Video of the incident, which has since circulated widely online, appears to show a woman confronting Martinez at her stand before spraying sauce across the vendor’s cart. Martinez responds by throwing what appears to be Tajín seasoning in the woman’s direction, and the confrontation quickly escalates.
The difficult-to-watch footage shows Martinez being shoved to the ground and struck multiple times as people look on. Some can be seen attempting to intervene, but the assault continues for roughly a minute before coming to an end.
“I was speechless,” Martinez’s son, Constantino Garcia, said after watching the video. “I couldn’t even see the whole thing.”
According to Garcia, the suspect approached his mother before the attack and attempted to intimidate her into giving her money.
“The lady came up to my mom trying to intimidate her and extort her for money, telling her she needed a permit to sell, which my mom does have,” Garcia told KTLA’s Carlos Saucedo.
When Martinez refused, Garcia claims the woman became verbally abusive.
“After she didn’t get her way and tried to extort my mom, she said, ‘Go back to Mexico,’ and made some racist remarks,” he said. “She said some disgusting things to my mom.”
Garcia said his mother continues to suffer lingering effects from the attack.
“She keeps complaining about her head,” he said. “We need to go see a head specialist because her head doesn’t stop hurting. As you could see in the video, she got slammed to the ground.”
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A 62-year-old L.A. street vendor was violently beaten by another woman downtown as bystanders watched the broad daylight attack on June 15, 2026. (Constantino Garcia) -
A 62-year-old L.A. street vendor was violently beaten by another woman downtown as bystanders watched the broad daylight attack on June 15, 2026. (Constantino Garcia) -
A 62-year-old L.A. street vendor was violently beaten by another woman downtown as bystanders watched the broad daylight attack on June 15, 2026. (Constantino Garcia) -
A 62-year-old L.A. street vendor was violently beaten by another woman downtown as bystanders watched the broad daylight attack on June 15, 2026. (Constantino Garcia) -
A 62-year-old L.A. street vendor was violently beaten by another woman downtown as bystanders watched the broad daylight attack on June 15, 2026. (Constantino Garcia) -
A 62-year-old L.A. street vendor was violently beaten by another woman downtown as bystanders watched the broad daylight attack on June 15, 2026. (Constantino Garcia) -
A 62-year-old L.A. street vendor was violently beaten by another woman downtown as bystanders watched the broad daylight attack on June 15, 2026. (Constantino Garcia) -
A 62-year-old L.A. street vendor was violently beaten by another woman downtown as bystanders watched the broad daylight attack on June 15, 2026. (Constantino Garcia) -
A 62-year-old L.A. street vendor was violently beaten by another woman downtown as bystanders watched the broad daylight attack on June 15, 2026. (Constantino Garcia) -
A 62-year-old L.A. street vendor was violently beaten by another woman downtown as bystanders watched the broad daylight attack on June 15, 2026. (Constantino Garcia) -
A 62-year-old L.A. street vendor was violently beaten by another woman downtown as bystanders watched the broad daylight attack on June 15, 2026. (Constantino Garcia)
The video has also sparked outrage over the response from some witnesses who were nearby during the assault.
“What’s going on with our society?” Garcia said. “Are we getting desensitized to an elderly woman being beaten in broad daylight and being surrounded by people doing the bare minimum to help her? That was horrible for me to watch.”
Witness Sebastian Gutierrez said he arrived moments after the confrontation and saw Garcia’s attacker causing additional chaos in the area.
“The lady began to flip over the tables of vendors,” Gutierrez said, describing the woman as possibly unstable. “It definitely seemed like there were mental health issues or drugs involved, like we see with a lot of things here in downtown L.A.,” he said.
The Los Angeles Police Department has launched a battery investigation into the incident KTLA confirmed, though no suspect information or news of a potential arrest has been released.
Meanwhile, Martinez’s family has launched a GoFundMe campaign to help with her recovery and raise awareness about the dangers street vendors face daily.
“I hope that my mom gets justice for what happened to her,” Garcia said. He added that he’s been encouraged by the public response to the video.
“I’m grateful people are sympathizing with my mom,” he said. “People are giving it the attention it deserves.”
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