Passengers Save Flight Attendant

Passengers clutched a flight attendant to keep her from being swept out of an American Eagle commuter plane after the cabin door blew off minutes after takeoff.

The French-made Super ATR with 64 people aboard immediately returned to O’Hare International Airport late Sunday. The flight attendant suffered bruises on her arms and legs.

“There were swishing noises and horrible screams from the attendant, ‘Help me! Help me!”’ Bonnie Werntz, a South Bend, Ind., police lieutenant who was sitting four rows back, told the South Bend Tribune.

The cause of the accident was under investigation.

The plane, bound for South Bend, was about 700 feet above the ground and two or three minutes into the flight when the door came off over the Chicago suburbs. Flight attendant Megan Vargas was sitting near the door.

“The door blew off and she yelled,” passenger Kathryn Cruz told WGN-TV. “She grabbed onto my arm so she wouldn’t be blown out the door. Other passengers got out of their seats to help her.”

Vargas, 20, of Chicago was treated at a hospital and released Monday.