Denver Airport: Passengers describe horror as pedestrian dies after being hit by Frontier Airlines plane
WARNING: Graphic details
Passengers on the plane, which hit and killed a pedestrian stuck in its engine, described this sad incident, saying they thought they were going to die.
John Anthens, 56, was on a boat with his two sons heading to a Pokémon Go competition in Los Angles when the tragedy unfolded.
A person who jumped over a fence and was on the runway at Denver International Airport died two minutes later when he was hit by a Frontier Airlines plane during takeoff; The crash sparked an engine fire that forced the passengers to evacuate.
“When the engine blew I thought ‘oh shit, we’re all going to die’,” Mr Anthens said. New York Post.
He said he felt the nose of the plane lift up before hearing the sound of a bomb.
“When the engine blew I thought ‘oh shit, we’re all going to die’.”
Jacob Anthens, 30, said his father was looking out the window at the time and witnessed what happened.
“My dad said that when there was a fire in the engine, you could see a person’s legs spinning around inside the engine. That sounds like emotional trauma to me,” Jacob said.
Thick black smoke filled the cabin as cabin crew told passengers to stay in their seats.
“I would say the majority of people didn’t know what was going on, but there was a huge explosion and obviously you hear a huge explosion, people start screaming, kids are crying and it was scary,” John Anthens said.
Passengers were eventually evacuated from the plane via the emergency slide, witnessed the bloody scene of the engine, and paused to take photos and video as they walked away.
The pilot’s radio messages were broadcast during the terrible incident.
“We’re standing on the runway,” the pilot tells the control tower, according to ATC.com.
“We just hit someone. There was a fire in the engine.”
The pilot told the air traffic controller that there were “231 people” on the plane and that “one person was walking on the runway.”
The air traffic controller said they were “rolling the trucks” before the pilot told the tower “there is smoke on the plane. We will evacuate from the runway.”
Frontier Airlines said in a statement that the plane involved in the collision was Flight 4345 and that “smoke was billowing from the cabin and the pilots aborted takeoff.” It is not yet known whether the smoke is related to the collision.
The airline said the plane was carrying 224 passengers and seven crew members.
“We are investigating this incident and gathering further information in coordination with the airport and other security authorities,” the airline said.
Passengers were evacuated using slides and the emergency team took them to the terminal by buses. An airport spokesman said 12 passengers suffered minor injuries and five were taken to hospital.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a post on
He added: “No one should enter an airport without permission.”
— from AP
