Watch: Southwest Airlines Flight Makes Emergency Landing After Bird Strike Filled Cabin with Smoke

A Southwest Airlines flight headed to Florida turned around and made an emergency landing in Cuba after the plane struck birds, leading an engine to catch fire and fill the cabin with smoke. 

“Southwest flight #3923 departing Havana, Cuba, for Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on Sunday morning experienced bird strikes to one of the engines and the aircraft’s nose shortly after takeoff,” a Southwest Airlines spokesperson said in a statement. 

The 147 passengers and six crew members were evacuated “via slides due to smoke in the cabin,” the spokesperson continued. 

Most passengers were given hotel rooms in Havana, Cuba and had their flights rebooked for Monday, though some passengers were Abel to get same-day flights on a competing airline. The affected passengers will also receive a $300 Southwest Airlines voucher due to the emergency situation.

Videos of flight were uploaded to social media that show the smoke-filled cabin with passengers wearing oxygen masks. 

One passenger, who identified himself as Jorge, told local outlets that he “felt a jolt and heard what sounded like an explosion.” 

Steven Rodriguez, another passenger, said he heard a “a big boom, like an explosion.”

“People started taking matters into their own hands and by force were punching the roof to eject the masks,” Rodriguez told NBC 6. “And people had bloody knuckles and all because they were punching the roof. There were little kids on the plane and elderly women.”

Jordan Dixon-Hamilton is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jdixonhamilton@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter.