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Former flight attendant says many people on damaged plane were not using their masks correctly

Most of the people pictured are wearing their oxygen masks incorrectly (Twitter)
Most of the people pictured are wearing their oxygen masks incorrectly (Twitter)

Many of the passengers involved in Tuesday’s Southwest Airlines flight tragedy, in which a woman died, were wearing their oxygen masks incorrectly.

Former flight attendant Bobby Laurie, who now works as a TV travel expert, blasted passengers for failing to cover their noses and mouths with the masks.

In a tweet that has since gone viral, he wrote: “PEOPLE: Listen to your flight attendants! ALMOST EVERYONE in this photo from Southwest Air #SWA1380 today is wearing their mask WRONG.

“Put down the phone, stop with the selfies.. and LISTEN. COVER your NOSE & MOUTH.”

Jennifer Riordan died after one of the engines on the flight from New York to Dallas exploded, causing her to be pulled from her seat and through the window.

Fellow passegers battled to save the mum-of-two, dragging her back into the plane and administering CPR. Sadly her injuries were too severe, and she died of blunt impact trauma to her head, neck and torso.

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The doomed plane was travelling at 30,000 feet at the time of the tragedy, which has caused many to call for changes in the design of oxygen masks.

Bobby Laurie disagrees, saying they’re blaming the “mask design for passengers wearing it wrong”.

Passenger Marty Martinez took the viral image used in Bobby’s original tweet seconds after the plane window smashed open, quickly paying for a Wi-Fi connection so he could send a message to his family.

He has since said: “That 30-second demo of how to put the mask on properly is such an insignificant portion of most of our lives.”

Bobby added that he hopes Mr Martinez and others will “think differently from now on!”.