A newly released video shows a person walking into the path of an oncoming passenger plane at the Denver International Airport on Friday, killing them and forcing the plane’s evacuation.
Infrared video released by Denver’s Department of Aviation shows the figure appearing to maintain the same gait and speed as they approach the runway and step directly into a Frontier Airlines plane’s path at 11:19 p.m.
The person remains walking as the plane’s front wheels pass them. They then vanish as a large explosion is seen in the center of the plane’s fuselage.
City and County of Denver Department of Aviation
Authorities said the collision sparked an engine fire, leading to the Los Angeles-bound flight’s evacuation.
The person, who is not believed to be an airport employee and had not been publicly identified as of Monday, had allegedly jumped a perimeter fence at the airport and was struck just two minutes later, the airport said in a statement Saturday.
“We are extremely saddened by this incident and express our sympathies to those involved,” it said.
A dozen people on the plane reported minor injuries. Five of them were transported to local hospitals, the airport said.
A former Denver police officer who worked at the airport told CBS News that concerns about someone breaching that specific perimeter of the airport had been raised for years because of how long it would take an officer to get out there if needed.
“When I was there, it was a vulnerability point, and it needed to be addressed,” they said. “I mean, it’s too bad that something like this has to happen before they do something that could have been done years ago.”
The airport’s police department referred questions about the incident to the airport’s media department, which did not immediately respond to JS’s request for comment.