A Frontier Airlines flight struck and killed a person while taking off Friday night, sparking a partial engine fire and forcing the plane to stay grounded.
Pilots aboard Frontier Flight 4345, which was bound for Los Angeles International Airport, reported striking a “pedestrian” while taking off from the runway at Denver International Airport at 11:19 p.m, according to airport officials.
The unidentified person was at least partially sucked into one of the engines of the Airbus A321neo, which ignited the brief engine fire, ABC News reported, citing sources.
“Tower, Frontier 4345, we’re stopping on the runway. Uh, we just hit somebody… we have an engine fire,” the pilot for the flight said over the radio, according to audio obtained by the outlet.
Pilots were forced to abort take-off when smoke was reported inside the cabin.
Denver firefighters extinguished the engine fire as all 231 passengers and crew were evacuated from the jet.
One passenger had suffered minor injuries and each person on board was evaluated as part of standard protocols, according to ABC News.
The stranded passengers were bused back to the terminal and a rescheduled flight is expected to take off for LAX at 6 a.m. local time, according to FlightAware.
It was not immediately known if the person killed was an airport worker, or how they had gotten onto the active runway.
Airport officials have closed the runway as an investigation into the incident is ongoing.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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