On Wednesday, an awful incident occurred at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport where a person fell into a jet engine that was still running.
At Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport on Wednesday afternoon, someone, unfortunately, died after slipping into a running airplane engine. The Netherlands Royal Military Police said on social networking site X, “An incident occurred this afternoon on the platform of Schiphol [Airport] where a person fell into a running aircraft engine and died.” The police have launched an investigation into the circumstances behind the incident.
It’s still unknown exactly who the person was—a passenger or an employee. According to a statement from the airline KLM, people were on board the airplane at the time of the event, and it was supposed to travel to Billund in central Denmark.
Emergency personnel arrived quickly on the scene. After leaving the plane, the staff and the passengers were attended to. “We are currently taking care of the passengers and employees who witnessed the incident at Schiphol,” stated KLM.
One of the largest aircraft hubs in Europe, Schiphol Airport, expressed its condolences and called the incident a “horrible incident” in a statement on X. “Our thoughts go out to the relatives, and we care for the passengers and colleagues who witnessed this.”
Regretfully, there are more fatal incidents as well. An airport employee at Montgomery Regional Airport in Alabama passed away in December 2022 after being sucked up by an Embraer 170 flown by Regional carrier Envoy Air. Similarly, in December 2015, an engineer at Mumbai Airport lost his life after being sucked into the engine of an Air India plane. The Air India incident happened while the engineer was supervising the operation of towing the Airbus A319 backward from its parking spot, close to the landing gear beneath the nose of the aircraft.
These incidents are a reminder of the severe risks associated with the aviation sector and the necessity of strict safety regulations to avoid catastrophes of this sort.
