Person dies when jet engine is running at Amsterdam Airport

A person died on Wednesday after “landing” in a running airplane engine at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, officials said, but the circumstances of the person’s death remained unclear.

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, the national airline of the Netherlands, said in a statement that the incident involved its flight KL1341, which was scheduled to depart for Billund in Denmark.

“We are currently taking care of the passengers and employees who witnessed the incident at Schiphol,” the airline said.

It is unclear whether the deceased person, whose name was not released, entered the plane’s engine or whether he was pulled in. KLM did not disclose whether the deceased person was an airline employee or an airport employee.

In a message posted in Dutch on social media, Schiphol Airport said: “There was a terrible incident in which a person ended up in an aircraft engine.”

“Our thoughts are with the relatives and we are taking care of the passengers and colleagues who saw this,” the airport said.

The passengers on board disembarked after the incident, Dutch military police said on social media, adding that they were investigating.

Pictures circulated on social media showing fire engines and other emergency vehicles next to the plane on the tarmac.

The plane was a twin-engine Embraer ERJ-190, according to FlightAware, a website that tracks air travel. The jet can carry up to 100 people and is known as a “cityhopper” because it is used for short-haul flights within Europe, according to the airline.

Fatal accidents like the one on Wednesday are rare on airport runways due to strict security precautions.

In January, a man died while boarding a plane engine at Salt Lake City International Airport. Police said the man entered the plane through an emergency exit door. He died at the airport after all rescue attempts failed, police said.

Claire Moses contributed to the reporting.