A Southwest Airlines 737-300 was forced to make an emergency landing in Charleston, West Virginia Monday night (July 13) after the plane developed a gaping hole in the top of its fuselage.

The one foot by one foot (30cm x 30cm) hole (pictured above) appeared as the plane was 30 minutes into a flight from Nashville to Baltimore. The hole caused the aircraft to depressurize and oxygen masks to fall down, as well as causing a significant number of passengers to shit their pants in fear.

The plane did land safely and a medical personnel on the scene reported that there were no injuries among the passengers, although some passengers were keen to find replacement pants.

Southwest said in a statement that they have begun an emergency inspection of all its 737-300s, and that they would co-operate fully with an FAA investigation into the cause of the hole.

(via Blippit)