A man was killed on Wednesday when he climbed into a running jet engine at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, officials said.
The man was “an employee of a company operating at the airport,” the Dutch military police said in a statement on Thursday. The jet, it said, “had just completed the pushback procedure and was about to taxi to the runway” when the man, whose name was not made public, climbed into the engine. The death has been ruled a suicide, the statement said.
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, the flag carrier of the Netherlands, said in a statement on Wednesday that the episode involved its Flight KL1341, which had been scheduled to take off for Billund, Denmark.
“We are currently taking care of the passengers and employees who witnessed the incident at Schiphol,” the airline said.
Schiphol Airport said in a message posted in Dutch on social media that “there was a horrible incident where a person ended up in an airplane engine.”
“Our thoughts go out to the relatives, and we are caring for the passengers and colleagues who saw this,” the airport said.
The passengers onboard disembarked after the episode, the Dutch military police said on social media, adding that they were investigating.
Images that circulated 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 twin-engine jet, according to FlightAware, a website that tracks air travel. The jet, which carries up to 100 people, is known as the “Cityhopper,” because it is used for short flights within Europe, according to the airline.
Fatal episodes like the one on Wednesday are rare on airport tarmacs, which have strict security measures in place.
In January, a man died after climbing into a plane engine at Salt Lake City International Airport. The police said that the man reached the plane by passing through an emergency exit door at the airport. He died at the airport after lifesaving efforts failed, the police said.
If you are having thoughts of suicide, call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or go to SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for a list of additional resources. Go here for resources outside the United States.
Claire Moses contributed reporting.
