DENVER — A Frontier Airlines plane bound for Los Angeles hit and killed a pedestrian on the runway of Denver International Airport during takeoff, airport authorities said, sparking an engine fire and forcing passengers to evacuate.
The plane, en route to Los Angeles International Airport, “reported striking a pedestrian during takeoff at DEN at approximately 11:19 p.m. on Friday,” the airport’s official X account wrote.
A spokesperson for the airport said the pedestrian, who jumped a perimeter fence, has died. They said the unidentified person was hit two minutes after entering the airport grounds. The person is not believed to be an airport employee.
“We’re stopping on the runway,” the pilot tells the control tower, according to the site ATC.com. “We just hit somebody. We have an engine fire.”
The pilot tells the air traffic controller they have “231 souls” on board and that an “individual was walking across the runway.”
The air traffic controller responds that the airport is “rolling the trucks now” before the pilot tells the tower that “[we] have smoke in the aircraft. We are going to evacuate on the runway.”
Frontier Airlines said in a statement that Flight 4345 was the one involved and that “smoke was reported in the cabin and the pilots aborted takeoff.” It was not clear whether the smoke was linked to the crash with the pedestrian.
“The Airbus A321 was carrying 224 passengers and seven crew members,” the airline said. “We are investigating this incident and gathering more information in coordination with the airport and other safety authorities.”
Passengers were then 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.
Denver airport said the National Transportation Safety Board had been notified and that runway 17L, where the incident took place, would remain closed while an investigation is conducted. It was expected to open later Saturday.
The pedestrian death came a day after a Delta Air Lines employee was killed while on the job at the Orlando International Airport in Florida. In a statement, the airline said the employee was killed Thursday night but did not provide details of the incident nor the name of the employee.
“We are focused on extending our full support to family and taking care of our Orlando team during this difficult time,” the airline said. “We are working with local authorities as a full investigation gets underway to determine what occurred.”
The post Pedestrian dies after being hit by L.A.-bound plane taking off in Denver appeared first on Los Angeles Times.
