Frontier Airlines plane strikes, kills pedestrian on Denver Airport runway: report

A tragic incident occurred on Friday night when a Frontier Airlines flight struck and killed a person while taking off, causing a partial engine fire and grounding the plane. The pilots of Frontier Flight 4345, headed for Los Angeles International Airport, reported hitting a “pedestrian” on the runway at Denver International Airport at 11:19 p.m., as confirmed by airport officials.

The individual was partially sucked into one of the engines of the Airbus A321neo, resulting in a brief engine fire, according to sources cited by ABC News. The pilots radioed the tower, informing them of the situation and the engine fire, which led to the aircraft stopping on the runway and the aborted take-off.

Emergency responders from Denver extinguished the engine fire as all 231 passengers and crew members were evacuated from the aircraft. One passenger sustained minor injuries, and everyone onboard was evaluated as part of standard protocols. The passengers were then bused back to the terminal, and a rescheduled flight is planned to depart for LAX at 6 a.m. local time, per FlightAware.

The identity of the individual who was killed is not yet known, and it remains unclear how they accessed the active runway. The airport authorities have closed the runway as they continue to investigate the tragic incident.

As this is a developing story, updates will be provided as more information becomes available.