Person jumps fence at Denver airport, dies after Frontier plane strikes them during takeoff
A person who climbed over a fence and entered a runway at Denver International Airport died after a Frontier Airlines plane hit them during takeoff, airport officials said. The collision caused an engine fire and forced passengers to evacuate.
The flight, which was headed from Denver to Los Angeles International Airport, “reported striking a pedestrian during takeoff at DEN at approximately 11:19 p.m. on Friday,” according to a statement posted on the airport’s official X account.
An airport spokesperson said the person had jumped a perimeter fence before the incident. Officials said the individual died and was struck just two minutes after entering the airport grounds. Authorities do not believe the person was an airport employee.
“We’re stopping on the runway,” the pilot told the control tower, according to ATC.com. “We just hit somebody. We have an engine fire.”
The pilot informed air traffic control that there were “231 souls” on board and that an “individual was walking across the runway.”
The controller replied that they were “rolling the trucks now” before the pilot reported, “We have smoke in the aircraft. We are going to evacuate on the runway.”
In a statement, Frontier Airlines confirmed that Flight 4345 was involved in the collision and said “smoke was reported in the cabin and the pilots aborted takeoff.” It remains unclear whether the smoke was connected to the collision.
The airline said the aircraft was carrying 224 passengers and seven crew members.
“We are investigating this incident and gathering more information in coordination with the airport and other safety authorities,” Frontier said.
Passengers evacuated the plane using emergency slides, and crews later transported them to the terminal by bus. According to an airport spokesperson, 12 passengers suffered minor injuries and five were taken to hospitals.
One passenger, Jacob Anthens, shared video showing travelers sliding down with their backpacks. He also posted photos appearing to show damage to the plane’s engine.
“As we were lifting off the engine of the plane exploded. There was so much smoke we couldn’t even see 1 ft in front of us,” Anthens wrote on Facebook, adding that passengers waited on the runway for more than an hour with “still no transport or help with the cold.”
Additional video showed passengers calmly moving down the aisle and using the emergency slide to evacuate while being instructed to move away from the aircraft.
Denver International Airport said the National Transportation Safety Board had been notified and that runway 17L, where the incident occurred, was shut down during the investigation. The runway reopened around 11 a.m. Saturday.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a post on X that the person “breached airport security at Denver Int’l Airport, deliberately scaled a perimeter fence, and ran out onto a runway.”
He added: “No one should EVER trespass on an airport.”
The incident happened one day after a Delta Air Lines employee died while working at Orlando International Airport. In a statement, the airline said the employee was killed Thursday night but did not release further details or identify the worker.
“We are focused on extending our full support to family and taking care of our Orlando team during this difficult time,” the airline said. “We are working with local authorities as a full investigation gets underway to determine what occurred.”