Jan 7 (Reuters - The chair of the National Transportation Safety Board said no passengers were seated next to a cabin panel that blew out on an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 that made an emergency landing Friday.

NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said the two seats next to the portion of fuselage that blew out were unoccupied. "We are very, very fortunate here that this didn't end up in something more tragic," Homendy added.

A piece of fuselage tore off the left side of the jet as it climbed following takeoff from Portland, Oregon, en route to Ontario, California, on Friday, forcing pilots to turn back and land safely with all 171 passengers and six crew on board.

(Reporting by David Shepardson and Valerie Insinna; editing by Miral Fahmy)