A person has tragically died after they were ‘sucked into plane engine’ before takeoff.
Flights at Milano Bergamo have been suspended today (July 8), with various flights being either diverted or canceled after the incident.
On X, formerly Twitter, the airport’s account shared a post, stating: “SACBO announces that flight operations at Milan Bergamo Airport were suspended at 10:20 am due to a problem that occurred on the taxiway. The causes of the problem are currently being investigated by the authorities.”
An updated statement has since been released to share that ‘air traffic resumed at 12 pm’.
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Lombardy Airports Association had also posted on X, writing: “Traffic to and from #orio #Bgy is suspended due to a serious issue on the apron.
“Possible delays, diversions, and cancellations throughout the morning. Updates will follow.”
It has since been reported by Italian media that the cause of the delays was due to an incident where a person was pulled into a live jet engine as the plane was preparing for takeoff.
Shortly after picking up passengers, the incident reportedly occurred when the pilots started completing the ‘pushback’ - which is when the plane is manoeuvred to come out of the parking area.
It is claimed that a man forced a door open in the baggage claim area and ran onto the tarmac, into the path of the aircraft. It is not clear if it was someone coming from outside the airport or if they were already within it.
The plane involved was an Airbus A319, operated by the Spanish budget airline Volotea.
Data from Flightradar24 shows that the flight from Milan to Austurias, Spain, was only on the move for less than two minutes before the tragedy.
Despite air traffic having officially resumed at the Italian airport, the country’s third busiest, the majority of flights scheduled for the coming hours are either delayed or canceled.
At 11:50 am local time, one flight was diverted to Bologna, with two redirected to Verona and six others sent to Milan Malpensa.
A Ryanair flight to Birmingham scheduled at 3:05 pm is currently not impacted.
Emergency services including firefighters and police and airport technicians are investigating how the incident occurred.
The operator of the airport, SACBO, said in a media statement: “SACBO announces that flight operations at Milan Bergamo Airport were suspended at 10:20 am due to a problem that occurred on the taxiway. The causes of the problem are currently being investigated by the authorities.”
LADbible Group has contacted SACBO for comment.