Frontier Airlines Plane Strikes Passenger, One Fatality Reported in US Incident

A fatal incident occurred at Denver International Airport in Colorado on Friday, involving a person who jumped the airport’s perimeter fence and was struck by a Frontier Airlines plane. According to authorities, the individual gained access to the tarmac and was hit just two minutes later while crossing the runway.

The airport reported that 12 of the 231 people on board suffered minor injuries, with five hospitalised. A brief engine fire followed the collision, which was extinguished by emergency responders. The airport’s perimeter fence was found to be intact during an investigation into the incident.

The struck individual is not believed to be an employee of the airport. Authorities from both local and national agencies are investigating the incident. The Frontier Airlines flight had been bound for Los Angeles International Airport.

This incident comes as airport safety in the US has faced renewed scrutiny following a prolonged shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, which temporarily left Transportation Security Agents and air traffic controllers working without pay. In recent weeks, there have been several incidents involving people being killed on airport tarmacs, including a Delta employee who was struck by an airport vehicle at Orlando International Airport.

The incident occurred just one day after another fatality at Denver International Airport, where two pilots were killed in March after an Air Canada Express plane crashed into a fire-rescue vehicle at LaGuardia Airport in New York. The airport handles approximately 225,000 passengers daily.

Source: Al Jazeera