May 9 (Reuters) – A Frontier Airlines passenger jet struck and killed a pedestrian on a runway at Denver International Airport during a planned takeoff for Los Angeles late on Friday, the airport said in a statement.
The Frontier flight reported striking an individual during takeoff and abandoned its departure. The pedestrian, who has not been identified, had jumped the perimeter fence and was hit just two minutes later while crossing the runway, the airport said.
The individual is not believed to be an employee of the airport, the statement said.
The incident caused a brief engine fire with smoke in the cabin on the Airbus A321 flight which was carrying 224 passengers and seven crew members, all of whom were evacuated safely.
Twelve people reported minor injuries and five were transported to local hospitals, the airport said.
Frontier said it was investigating the incident and gathering more information in coordination with the airport and other safety authorities.
The airport said the incident scene was cleared, and the runway the incident occurred on was reopened as of 10:55 am local time.
The airport added that it had also examined the fence line crossed by the individual and found it to be intact.
U.S. Transport Secretary Sean Duffy said local law enforcement is investigating the incident with support from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and the Transportation Security Administration.
(Reporting by Shivani Tanna, Preetika Parashuraman and Gursimran Kaur in Bengaluru; Editing by Aidan Lewis, Toby Chopra and Nick Zieminski)
