An airplane departing from Denver International Airport in the United States collided with a pedestrian during takeoff on Friday night, an incident that resulted in at least one passenger being injured, according to the airport and American media.
It is an accident far from trivial. An airplane departing from Denver International Airport in the United States collided with a pedestrian during takeoff on Friday night, an incident that resulted in at least one passenger being injured, according to the airport and American media.
“Frontier Flight 4345 reported hitting a pedestrian during takeoff,” around 11:19 PM (05:19 GMT), the airport said in a statement.
According to ABC News, citing an anonymous official, the person struck “was at least partially burned by one of the engines” and at least one passenger suffered minor injuries.
An engine fire broke out
“We are stopping on the runway, we have hit someone, we have an engine fire… There was a person crossing the runway,” a pilot told air traffic controllers, according to an audio recording posted on ATC.com.
“A brief fire broke out in the engine, but it was quickly controlled” by firefighters, the airport added, without specifying if the pedestrian was still alive.
Emergency teams intervened on site and transported passengers by bus to the terminal.
“Smoke was reported in the cabin and the pilots aborted takeoff. Passengers were then safely evacuated via slides as a precaution,” Frontier Airlines told media, including CNN.
The aircraft, an Airbus A321, had 224 passengers and seven crew members, according to Frontier.
