Milan Bergamo Airport (LIME) in Italy temporarily suspended flights Tuesday amid reporting that an individual had been sucked into an aircraft engine and killed.
A social media post by the airport stated that flight operations were suspended from 10:20 a.m. to 12 p.m. local time “due to a problem that occurred on the taxiway.”
“The causes of the problem are currently being investigated by the authorities,” the post stated. “Air traffic resumed at 12:00 p.m.”
Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported that a 35-year-old man trespassed into the airport and ran across the path of a taxiing aircraft when he was sucked into its engine, according to unnamed airport sources.
Spain-based European airline Volotea corroborated those claims, telling Corriere della Sera that the 154 passengers, four flight attendants, and two pilots aboard the aircraft were all unharmed.
Later on Tuesday, the airport released an official media statement confirming an individual had broken into the premises “despite the prompt counteraction of the police forces present” and had been killed after approaching the aircraft’s engine on the runway.
“The exact dynamics of the incident are being examined by the judicial authorities to whom SACBO continues to provide all the necessary collaboration,” the airport stated.
The aircraft in question was an Airbus A319 operated by Volotea under the flight number V73511. It was departing from Milan Bergamo Airport to Asturias Airport (LEAS) in Spain when the incident occurred.
Milan Bergamo Airport president Giovanni Sanga offered his condolences to the family of the deceased in a statement to Corriere della Sera.
