A horror scene that you actually only know from the film “Die Hard II” with Bruce Willis: A man is sucked in by the engine of an airplane and is shredded in the nozzle. But this time it’s not a scene from a Hollywood movie, but cruel reality.
Terrible industrial accident at an American airport!
On December 31, an American Airlines Embraer 175 was parked at Montgomery (Alabama) regional airport. The machine (12 business seats, 64 economy seats) is scheduled to fly to Dallas (US state of Texas) at 3:45 p.m. with flight number AA3408. Flight time: one hour and 25 minutes.
Shortly before the machine was supposed to be given taxi clearance, a man who worked as a baggage loader for American Airlines got sucked into the left engine, which was already running, for unknown reasons.
A colleague who witnessed the accident later confirmed that the man had been swallowed by the plane’s engine.
Rescue workers from the airport fire brigade who were immediately alerted could only determine the man’s death. The airport was closed for hours.
The airport fire brigade was at the scene of the accident in a few minutes, but could no longer help the man
The cause of the accident is so far completely unclear. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA, American Air Traffic Control Authority) confirms that the machine was still at the gate at the time of the accident.
︎ It is unclear whether the pilots had already received clearance from the tower to start the engine, whether the man had carelessly stood in front of the running engine or whether he had not even heard the engine start through his soundproof headphones. The flight accident investigation authority NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) has started the investigation.
With this tweet, the airport confirmed the tragic accident