A man died at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport after being pulled into the engine of a KLM Cityhopper passenger plane.
The incident occurred on Wednesday afternoon, when the Embraer E190 aircraft was preparing to take off. He was supposed to take flight KL1341 to Billund in Denmark. According to footage published by the Dutch public broadcaster NOS, it happened on the platform near the terminal. Photos from the scene show fire trucks near the plane and emergency workers.
“Today, an incident occurred at Schiphol, as a result of which a person was trapped in an airplane engine. Unfortunately, this person has died,” KLM said in a statement. “We are currently providing assistance to passengers and employees who witnessed the incident.
The Royal Netherlands Military Police, responsible for security at the airport, reported that the passengers had been removed from the plane and that authorities had launched an investigation.
The deceased person has not yet been identified. Social media reported that it could have been a ground service worker, but sources from the Algemeen Dagblad (AD) newspaper said that this information was false and that the person was near the engine by accident.
According to the Flightradar24 service, flight KL1341 was operated by another flight, which took off six hours late and landed in Billund at 21:23. According to AD, the flight was operated by a reserve crew. Upon arrival in Denmark, the passengers were provided with psychological assistance.
KLM Cityhopper is a subsidiary of the national carrier KLM, which operates short-haul flights.
“Schiphol is one of the largest airports in the world. In April this year alone, it served about 5.5 million passengers.
Strict security measures are in place at the airport, and accidents are extremely rare, AFP notes.
