One fatality at Alabama airport after baggage handler sucked into plane engine

Misty Severi

December 31, 09:26 PM December 31, 09:28 PM

One airport employee was killed at the Montgomery Regional Airport in Alabama on Saturday, after the individual was sucked into the engine of an American Airline subsidized plane, airport authorities confirmed.

The employee, identified only as a baggage handler, was killed while the American Airlines flight was waiting at its gate. The plane was scheduled to depart for Dallas later Saturday afternoon, according to news site WSFA-12.

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"Today around 3 pm an American Airlines ground crew piedmont employee was involved in a fatality, no additional information is available at this time," the airport tweeted. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of the deceased."

The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the incident, according to Reuters. The airport has since closed and will reopen on Sunday, according to the FAA. The plane was operated by the American Airline subsidiary Envoy Air, according to the outlet.

A similar incident occurred in New Orleans earlier this year, when 26-year-old baggage handler Jermani Thompson died while unloading baggaage from Frontier Airlines flight in September. The incident occurred when Thompson's hair became entangled in the belt loader machinery, CBS News reported at the time.