The individual scaled the fence and was not alleged to be on the runway (Image: Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)
The National Transportation Safety Board on Sunday mentioned it’s gathering data about the evacuation of a Frontier Airlines plane after it hit and killed a individual on the runway at Denver International Airport during takeoff.
The plane, which was heading to Los Angeles International Airport, reported placing a pedestrian during takeoff at DEN at roughly 11:19 p.m. on Friday, based on a post on the airport’s official X account.
Passengers had been evacuated by way of slides, and the emergency crew bused them to the terminal. An airport spokesperson mentioned 12 passengers acquired minor accidents and 5 had been taken to hospitals.
Some people onboard expressed concern about the evacuation, together with being caught within the plane for a number of minutes as smoke crammed the cabin and left on the tarmac within the cold as soon as they had been out.
Video additionally confirmed some passengers coming down the slide with what appeared to be their carry-on bag.
The cabin crammed with smoke
The individual was seen scaling the fence after which strolling throughout the runway (Image: Denver Airport Security Footage)
“We are gathering information about the emergency evacuation to determine if it meets criteria for a safety investigation,” NTSB spokesperson Sarah Taylor Sulick mentioned early Sunday, including that the company may need more particulars in a few hours.
Frontier Airlines didn’t reply early Sunday to a request for data about the evacuation.
A spokesman for the Denver Police Department mentioned Sunday the investigation into the incident was ongoing and that the identification of the individual on the runway will probably be confirmed and launched by the Denver Office of the Medical Examiner.
The CEO of the Denver airport, Phil Washington, mentioned he “knows” there are questions nonetheless to be answered.
“As this is an active investigation with numerous other agencies involved, it is going to take some time as we are still confirming what information we can share at this time,” Washington mentioned in a assertion. “This was a horrible and preventable tragedy that has affected many due to the actions of one person who apparently trespassed at an airport and lost their life as a result.”
Two minutes after leaping a fence, the individual crossed the runway and was hit. The solely particulars the airport has launched was that they don’t imagine the individual was an airport worker.
The particular person was sucked into the plane’s engine (Image: Denver Airport Security Footage)
Passengers panicked and insisted they evacuate
“We’re stopping on the runway,” the pilot tells the control tower based on the positioning ATC.com. “We just hit somebody. We have an engine fire.”
The pilot tells the air site visitors controller they’ve “231 souls” on board and that an “individual was walking across the runway.”
The air site visitors controller responds that they’re “rolling the trucks now” earlier than the pilot tells the tower they “have smoke in the aircraft. We are going to evacuate on the runway.”
Passengers mentioned panic took maintain on the flight after an engine caught fire and the cabin started filling with smoke.
“Honestly, I thought I was going to die,” passenger Mohamed Hassan instructed Colorado’s 9NEWS.
“A lot of people next to me were screaming and crying. I just closed my eyes,” he mentioned. “At that time, you’re not really thinking of anything, you know? Because we were just about to take off and I heard that boom, so I wasn’t sure what happened. I just thought something really, really bad happened.”
Passenger Nikil Thalanki instructed native media retailers that he felt “this jerk” because the plane was about to take off, including that it felt just like the wheels had left the ground however then got here back down.
“There was fire on the engine. There was lots of sparks that are happening. Immediately came to a stop,” Thalanki mentioned. “As soon as we saw the sparks on the flight, smoke filled the cabin completely. It was super hard to breathe.”
The National Transportation Safety Board is gathering data
Kimberly Randle mentioned passengers had been panicking and determined to get off the plane.
“In a few minutes, they finally opened the door. People were running to get out of the plane,” he mentioned. “It was chaos everywhere.”
The NTSB has for years expressed involved about evacuations, particularly passengers leaving with their carry-ons. In an April report on the evacuation aboard a United Airlines flight at Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport, the NTSB described a troubling scene.
Passengers had been evacuated by way of slides and stairs final yr from the jetliner after an engine drawback during takeoff induced smoke and fire on the precise wing.
Despite the flight attendant telling passengers to stay seated, a number of started shouting, “fire on the engine, let me get out!” That trigged “widespread panic” and prompted many passengers to get up and begin retrieving their belongings. Some climbed over seats and started obstructing the aisle.
Three massive males insisted the evacuation happen, pushing previous a flight attendant and going down a slide earlier than it had totally deployed — inflicting it to deflate and develop into unusable.
“Cabin crew training emphasizes assertive command presence and passenger control during evacuations; however, this event demonstrates how rapidly escalating passenger behavior can affect evacuation dynamics even in the absence of confirmed fire or smoke conditions,” based on the report.
