A person who jumped a fence and was on a runway at Denver International Airport was struck and killed by a Frontier Airlines plane during takeoff, airport authorities said. The collision sparked an engine fire and forced passengers to evacuate.
The plane, on route from Denver to Los Angeles International Airport, \u201creported striking a pedestrian during takeoff at DEN at approximately 11:19 p.m. on Friday,\u201d according to a post on the airport\u2019s official X account.
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A spokesperson for the airport said the person, who jumped a perimeter fence, has died. They said the unidentified person was hit two minutes after entering the airport. The person is not believed to be an airport employee.
\u201cWe\u2019re stopping on the runway,\u201d the pilot tells the control tower according to the site ATC.com. \u201cWe just hit somebody. We have an engine fire.\u201d
The pilot tells the air traffic controller they have \u201c231 souls\u201d on board and that an \u201cindividual was walking across the runway.\u201d
The air traffic controller responds that they are \u201crolling the trucks now\u201d before the pilot tells the tower they \u201chave smoke in the aircraft. We are going to evacuate on the runway.\u201d
Frontier Airlines said in a statement that flight 4345 was the one involved in the collision and that \u201csmoke was reported in the cabin and the pilots aborted takeoff.\u201d It was not clear whether the smoke was linked to the collision.
The airline said the plane was carrying 224 passengers and seven crew members.
\u201cWe are investigating this incident and gathering more information in coordination with the airport and other safety authorities,\u201d the airline said.
Passengers were evacuated via slides and the emergency crew bused them to the terminal. The airport spokesperson said 12 passengers suffered minor injuries and five were taken to hospitals.
One passenger, Jacob Athens, posted video showing people sliding down with their backpacks. He also posted photos of what looked like a damaged engine.
\u201cAs we were lifting off the engine of the plane exploded. There was so much smoke we couldn\u2019t even see 1 ft in front of us,\u201d Athens said on his Facebook page, adding that passengers had to wait for over a hour on the runway and \u201cstill no transport or help with the cold.\u201d
Other video shows passengers calmly walking down the aisle of the plane and using the slide to evacuate. They were told to step away from the plane.
Denver Airport said the National Transportation Safety Board had been notified and that runway 17L, where the incident took place, was closed amid an investigation. It reopened Saturday around 11 a.m.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a post on X that the person \u201cbreached airport security at Denver Int\u2019l Airport, deliberately scaled a perimeter fence, and ran out onto a runway.\u201d
He added: \u201cNo one should EVER trespass on an airport.\u201d
The incident came a day after a Delta Air Lines employee was killed while on the job at the Orlando International Airport. In a statement, the airline said the employee was killed Thursday night without providing details of the incident or the name of the employee.
\u201cWe are focused on extending our full support to family and taking care of our Orlando team during this difficult time,\u201d the airline said. \u201cWe are working with local authorities as a full investigation gets underway to determine what occurred.\u201d<\/p>\n