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Terrifying videos show passengers fleeing the Frontier Airlines plane which struck an apparent trespasser at Denver airport – as smoke fills the cabin.
Some travelers ignored warnings to leave their belongings as they rushed to evacuate the hazy cabin Friday night caused by an engine fire.
One video showed the Los Angeles-bound Airbus A321neo plane hurtling down the runway at speeds just under 140mph – before there was a bright orange flash, with sparks seen flying from the back of one of the plane’s engines.
Passengers ignored instructions to their leave bags on board as they rushed to evacuate the dark, hazy cabin – with one shouting, “Fire on the engine, let me out.”
“Smoke filled the cabin completely — it was super hard to breathe,” Nikil Thalanki told KUSA.
“And then we were sitting there, what they told us to wait there, just remain seated for like two, three minutes, maybe four minutes, and then they opened up the exits.”
One stewardess even shouted, “Please leave all belongings, your belongings are safe, your lives are more important.”
Passengers were told to “stay low and jump” as they approached the inflatable slides.
“Holy s–t, we almost died,” one passenger said in one social media clip they looked at the stationary plane.
“That is f–king crazy.”
Some passengers were seen taking in the extent of the damage to the plane’s engine following the explosion.
Mohamed Hassan, who was also on the plane, told KUSA it was the “scariest experience of my life.”
“I was on the flight, and I looked to my right and I just saw a fire, I heard a loud boom, people started screaming. I thought I was going to die,” he said.
New security video released by the City and County of Denver shows the moment the person was struck while walking on the runway.
The victim can be seen walking from one end to the other with little urgency. They appeared to be perfectly aligned with one of the plane’s engines when part of their upper body was sucked inside.
The collision occurred roughly two minutes after the individual hopped the fence, KHOU 11 reported. The plane was moving at 139 mph at the time of the crash, according to FlightAware.
The pilot told air traffic controllers, “We’re stopping on the runway,” just moments after the collision.
“We just hit somebody. We have an engine fire.”
The pilot said an “individual was walking across the runway” before the air traffic controller responds they’re “rolling the trucks.”
The pilot then tells air traffic controllers they “have smoke in the aircraft. We are going to evacuate on the runway.”
All 224 passengers and seven crew members were safely evacuated from the plane.
Phil Washington, the Denver Airport CEO, said he “knows” there are questions still to be answered.
“As this is an active investigation with numerous other agencies involved, it is going to take some time as we are still confirming what information we can share at this time,” he said.
“This was a horrible and preventable tragedy that has affected many due to the actions of one person who apparently trespassed at an airport and lost their life as a result.”
With Post wires.
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