A person died Wednesday after “running into” a running plane engine at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, officials said, although the circumstances of the person’s death remain unclear.
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, the national airline of the Netherlands, said in a statement that the episode involved its flight KL1341, which was scheduled to depart for Billund, Denmark.
“We are currently caring for passengers and employees who witnessed the incident at Schiphol,” the airline said.
It is unclear whether the deceased, whose name has not been made public, entered the plane’s engine or was pulled into it. KLM did not specify whether the deceased was an airline employee or an airport employee.
Schiphol Airport said in a Dutch-language social media post that “there was a horrible incident in which a person ended up in a plane engine.”
“Our thoughts are with the loved ones and we are caring for the passengers and colleagues who saw this,” the airport said.
Passengers on board disembarked after the episode, Dutch military police said on social media, adding that they were investigating.
Images circulating on social media showed fire trucks and other emergency vehicles next to the plane on the tarmac.
The plane was an Embraer ERJ-190, a twinjet, according to FlightAware, a website that tracks air travel. The plane can carry up to 100 people and is known as the “Cityhopper” because it is used for short flights in Europe, according to the airline.
Fatal episodes like that of Wednesday are rare on airport tarmacs, where strict security measures have been put in place.
In January, a man died after climbing into the engine of a plane at Salt Lake City International Airport. Police said the man reached the plane through an emergency exit door at the airport. He died at the airport after rescue efforts failed, police said.
Claire Moses reports contributed.
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