Frontier Airlines jet on takeoff hits, kills person on Denver International Airport runway – Denver7

DENVER — A dozen people reported minor injuries and five were taken to hospitals after a Frontier Airlines jet on takeoff hit and killed a person walking across a runway at Denver International Airport Friday night, according to airport officials.
The jet hit the pedestrian during takeoff around 11:20 p.m. Friday, according to DIA.
An official confirmed to ABC News that “the person was at least partially consumed by one of the engines,” adding it caused a “brief engine fire, extinguished by firefighters.”
DIA officials later confirmed in a statement that the person “jumped the perimeter fence and was hit just two minutes later while crossing the runway.” The person killed has not been identified and is not believed to be an airport employee. Officials said the fenceline is intact.
Denver7 reporter Lauren Lennon has the latest update in the video player below.
There were 231 people on board the Los Angeles-bound flight. According to Frontier Airlines, 224 were passengers and seven were crew members. After the passengers onboard the Airbus A321neo evacuated on the runway using emergency slides, they were bussed to the terminal and most departed the airport on another Frontier flight.
In a statement, DIA said the National Transportation Safety Board has been notified, and the runway where this happened — 17L — will remain closed for the rest of the morning. Around 11:30 a.m., DIA said the runaway had reopened.
The Denver Police Department is also investigating this incident.
Victoria Lohman, who was a passenger on the flight, spoke to Denver7.
“Started going down the runway and all of the sudden this huge bang,” she said. “Everyone got really frightened and understandably so.”
Emergency crews responded to the scene and bussed passengers to the terminal. 231 souls were on board. Emergency response and investigation are ongoing. The NTSB has been notified. Runway 17L will remain closed while the investigation is conducted. 2/2
Another passenger, Jacob Athens, posted visuals of people sliding down with their backpacks and what looked like a damaged engine, the Associated Press reported.
“As we were lifting off the engine of the plane exploded. There was so much smoke we couldn’t even see 1 ft in front of us,” Athens said on his Facebook page, adding that passengers had to wait for over an hour on the runway and “still no transport or help with the cold.”
Another passenger, Levi Lynn, decided to stay back home here in Colorado instead of taking one of the alternate Frontier flights on Saturday. He described the moment the collision happened.
“Right as I looked out the window, and I could feel the bang, you know, it was like a shock wave, but it was so quick. The fire lasted, I’d say about 10 or 15 seconds, and then it just let itself out. That’s when the smoke really filled the cabin,” Lynn said.
He said people started to panic as the smoke smelled strongly of chemicals and was “burning our eyes.” Passengers were evacuated on the runway using emergency slides, which Lynn captured on camera.
“Yeah, it really all happened in slow motion,” Lynn said. “So, I’m like replaying it in my mind and it was so weird to go from something so mundane and ordinary to something so out of the ordinary.”
While Lynn did not make it to California for the weekend, the experience reminded him to tell loved ones he cares about them before take off. It also is one flight he will never forget.
“This is the wildest story, probably I’ll ever have, especially when it comes to flying,” Lynn said.
In the video below, watch more of Maggy Wolanske’s coverage as she spoke with passengers on this plane about the experience.
Another passenger, Mohamed Hassan is still in shock over what happened. He also described the cabin filling with smoke and people screaming after the collision.
When Denver7 spoke with him, he still had trouble believing it was real.
“… Until, like, six hours after, it still felt fake,” Hasson said. “Like, I thought it was going to wake up from a dream or something.”
Two big concerns he has are one, the amount of smoke that was inhaled before they were evacuated and two, how the person was able to get onto the runway. While he won’t be traveling any time soon, he did have a message for the pilots.
“My heart goes out to the pilots because, I know it’s a really heavy thing that can be on your conscience. I know it wasn’t his fault at all,” Hasson said. “He might think that he killed someone on purpose, but I just want to let him know all the passengers are with him. We stand with him for sure.”
Denver7 reached out to Frontier Airlines Saturday morning.
Below is a statement the airline provided:
Denver7 obtained the communications between the Frontier pilot and the air traffic controller. Here’s a portion of that exchange:
Pilot: Tower, Frontier, Tower, 4345 we’re stopping on the runway there. We just hit somebody. We have an engine fire.
ATC: 4345 I’m going to be rolling the trucks now. Do you can you know the souls on board and fuel remaining?
Pilot: All right, 4345 we have 231 souls on board. We have 220 1320 pounds of fuel on board. There was an individual walking across the runway. We’ve got smoke in the aircraft. We’re going to evacuate on the runway.
ATC: We’re having ops and emergency vehicles going all the way now seven. They’re about halfway down the runway, of one seven left. They’re evacuating the runway. The aircraft on the runway,
This is a developing story and will be updated.

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