Person dies after falling into engine of departing passenger plane
Passengers and ground crew reportedly witnessed the horrifying incident
Amsterdam: A person died after ending up in a running aircraft engine at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport, Dutch airline KLM said on Wednesday.
Dutch media had reported on the incident earlier on Wednesday, while the Dutch military police, Marechaussee, said in a tweet it was running an investigation.
Dutch border police, who are responsible for security at the Netherlands' largest airport, said passengers were removed from the plane and an investigation was opened. The investigation has not yet identified who the person was, a Marechaussee spokesperson said.
The spokesperson added that it was too early to say whether this was an "incident", or a form of suicide. He added that all passengers and crew, who will be important witnesses to the investigation, had safely left the plane.
KLM, which is part of France-KLM, also said in a statement it was investigating the event.
"An... incident took place at Schiphol today during which a person ended up in a running aircraft engine," Dutch flagship carrier KLM said in a statement.
"Sadly the person has died," KLM said, without disclosing the victim's identity.
The plane involved is a short-haul Embraer jet, used by KLM's Cityhopper service which operates flights to other nearby destinations like London, Dutch news reports said.
A picture posted on the NOS public broadcaster showed the plane surrounded by fire trucks and ambulances next to the departure terminals.
Safety and security measures are strict at Schiphol and accidents are rare at the busy airport, which handled around 5.5 million passengers last month alone, according to airport figures.