A person died after being caught in the engine of a passenger plane moments before it was due to take off from Schiphol airport in Amsterdam.
The incident occurred on Wednesday afternoon as a KLM Cityhopper flight pushed back from its gate at the busy terminal, a Dutch military police source told The Telegraph.
“An incident took place at Schiphol today during which a person ended up in a running aircraft engine,” the Dutch national flag-carrying KLM airline said in a statement.
“Sadly the person has died,” it added, without disclosing the victim’s identity.
Investigators were on Wednesday night looking into a possible suicide as part of the initial probe into the highly unusual death.
The aircraft, bound for Billund, Denmark, was full of passengers when the body fell into the engine’s spinning turbine blades.
The passengers were almost immediately disembarked from the plane and offered support because of the tragic nature of the incident.
They will be questioned as they could offer some of the best insight into the person’s death, said a spokesman for the Dutch military police, who are responsible for security at the airport.
“An incident occurred this afternoon on the Schiphol platform where a person fell into a running aircraft engine and died,” the Marechaussee agency added in a statement.
“All passengers and employees of the flight in question have been disembarked and are being taken care of.”
The jet involved was an Embraer, operated by KLM on short-haul routes, such as London.
A picture published by the NOS public broadcaster showed the plane surrounded by fire engines and ambulances next to the terminal.
The Dutch Safety Board sent three investigators to Schiphol, NOS reported.
Workplace standards inspectors were also dispatched by the labour ministry to establish whether it was a workplace accident.
Schiphol airport wrote on X: “Our thoughts go out to the relatives and we care for the passengers and colleagues who witnessed this.”
Safety and security measures are strict at Schiphol and accidents are rare at the busy airport, which handled around 5.5 million passengers last month alone, according to airport figures.
The airport, which is six miles from Amsterdam, is Europe’s third busiest.
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