An Alabama Airport baggage handler was found dead after getting sucked into an airplane engine while working on Saturday afternoon.
In a statement, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said that the deceased was "ingested into the engine" of an aircraft on the ground while it was parked at the gate with the parking brake set. On Sunday, the agency added that it has already opened an investigation into the incident.
Ingested Into Airplane Engine
Authorities from the Montgomery Regional Airport released a statement saying that an American Airlines/Piedmont Airlines employee died in an "industrial accident" at roughly 3:00 p.m. in the afternoon.
The statement noted that they were saddened to hear about the terrible news of the tragic loss of a team member of the AA/Piedmont Airlines. Executive Director Wade Davis also said that their thoughts and prayers were with the family during the difficult time.
In a Twitter post, the airport said that normal operations resumed at around 8:30 p.m. in the evening and added that a Federal Aviation Authorization (FAA) investigation regarding the accident was ongoing, as per CBS News.
For a brief time following the accident, the airport was closed while the situation was being assessed by authorities. A spokesperson for American Airlines said that they were devastated by the accident that involved a team member of Piedmont Airlines, which is a regional carrier for American Airlines.
According to VT, due to the incident, passengers who were scheduled to arrive or depart from the airport on the day of the accident were instructed to check with the airline for any potential alterations that may have been made while the staff continued to investigate the tragic fatality.
Aviation Accidents
The situation comes as last month, another aviation-related accident took place in Dallas when two World War II-era airplanes collided in midair during an airshow. Authorities said that the incident turned the commemorative Veterans Day weekend into a day of horror.
The NTSB reported that six people died in the crash that involved a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and a Bell P-63 Kingcobra. The FAA said that the two planes collided at the Wings Over Dallas airshow that was being held at Dallas Executive Airport, which was roughly 10 miles south of downtown Dallas.
Online users posted several videos on social media platforms, one of which showed a fast and agile airplane slamming into a larger, slower aircraft as onlookers watched, horrified. A member of the NTSB, Michael Graham, said that the five crew members of the larger plane and the sole pilot of the smaller craft all lost their lives in the crash.
Graham noted that a preliminary report into the crash was expected to be released roughly four to six weeks after the incident and that a full investigative report would take up to 18 months to complete. He added that the aircraft did not have flight data recorders onboard because they were not required to equip them, which makes the investigation more difficult for authorities, the New York Times reported.