The National Transportation Safety Board said Sunday it is gathering information about the evacuation of a Frontier Airlines plane bound for Los Angeles after it hit and killed a person on the runway at Denver International Airport during takeoff.
The jetliner carrying 224 passengers and seven crew members en route to LAX reported striking a pedestrian during takeoff late Friday night.
Passengers on the plane, which Frontier identified as Flight 4345, were evacuated via slides, and the emergency crew bused them to the terminal. An airport spokesperson said 12 passengers suffered minor injuries and five were taken to hospitals. The spokesperson did not provide details on how the passengers were injured. But some people on board expressed concern about the evacuation, including being stuck in the plane for several minutes as smoke filled the cabin and being left on the tarmac in the cold once they were out.
“We are gathering information about the emergency evacuation to determine if it meets criteria for a safety investigation,” NTSB spokesperson Sarah Taylor Sulick said Sunday, adding that the agency might have more details later in the day.
Frontier Airlines didn’t respond early Sunday to a request for information about the evacuation.
The pedestrian, who authorities have still not identified, was hit two minutes after jumping the airport fence and crossing the runway. The person is not believed to be an airport employee.
Frontier Airlines said in a statement that “smoke was reported in the cabin and the pilots aborted takeoff.” It was not clear whether the smoke was linked to the collision.
Casey writes for the Associated Press.
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