A Tampa woman was on board an American Airlines flight that caught fire last week.

The backstory:

Last Thursday, Marisol Cohen had just wrapped up a work conference in Colorado Springs. She boarded American Airlines Flight 1006, which was headed to Dallas-Fort Worth. However, shortly after takeoff, the flight crew made an announcement. 

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“Within five minutes of flying, they came over the loud speaker, and they said, we have bad news,” Cohen told FOX 13. “We have to divert the plane to Denver, because there’s a rattle in one of the engines.”

As soon as the plane landed in Denver, Cohen remembered hearing someone scream “fire!” The Tampa resident said she could feel the heat from the flames, which were visible from near the right wing. 

“They were right here, billowing. They were orange, and the entire plane got full of black smoke instantly,” Cohen said, adding that it was a struggle to breathe. 

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Cohen said those in the front and back of the plane were able to deplane. But for unknown reasons, she said there was a delay in getting the emergency exit row door opened so those in the middle of the plane could get out.   

“I’m yelling at the top of my lungs to ‘open the door, open the door! We’re going to explode! Open that door!’ And finally, somebody did open that door,” Cohen remembered.  

She joined other passengers and walked out onto the plane’s left wing where a man below told her to jump, offering to catch her. 

“I’d rather break a leg than burn, because the flames were so, so big,” Cohen said. “And this happened so quickly that I said, jump or fry.”

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And that’s exactly what she did: She jumped and thankfully avoided any serious injury. Crews did treat her for a cut on her leg. 

“I didn’t know that wing was that high!” Cohen said. “But it is very slippery, and it’s very high off the ground. So jumping into that man’s arms was not the easiest thing to do, but it was either that or explode on this wing.”

Big picture view:

Now, she’s encouraging other travelers who choose the exit row to always be ready to act.  

“I know many people sit there just for the leg room,” Cohen said. “And that’s not why those seats are there.”

Dig deeper:

FOX 13 reached out to American Airlines for a statement and will let you know when we hear back. The airline told the Associated Press that the flight experienced an engine-related issue after taxiing to the gate. Out of the 172 passengers and six crew members on board, a dozen people had to be taken to local hospitals for injuries. 

The Source: The information in this story was gathered through an interview with Marisol Cohen. The Associated Press also contributed to this report. 

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