Horrifying footage shows moment before US plane strikes pedestrian on runway sucking them into engine

Tragedy struck at Denver airport yesterday as a pedestrian who had walked onto the runway was struck by a plane before being sucked into an engine.

A Frontier Airlines plane which was carrying over 200 passengers was brought to an abrupt halt on Friday night (8 May) when it became clear that it had struck a pedestrian during take-off.

After the pedestrian - who has not yet been identified - was sucked into the engine, it triggered a serious engine fire and all passengers and staff were able to be evacuated safely.

As the investigation into the death continues, horrifying footage has now been released of the moments before the pedestrian passed away, showing them brazenly walking across the runway before the plane makes its fatal contact.

"DEN can confirm the pedestrian jumped the perimeter fence and was hit just two minutes later while crossing the runway. The pedestrian is deceased, and is not believed to be an employee of the airport nor have they been identified," the airport said in a statement shared on X.

The CEO of the Denver airport, Phil Washington said that there were still a lot of questions to be answered about how this incident was allowed to happen, especially at a time where US airports are under particular scrutiny, given the sheer number of runway incidents in recent times.

"As this is an active investigation with numerous other agencies involved, it is going to take some time as we are still confirming what information we can share at this time,” Washington said in a statement. “This was a horrible and preventable tragedy that has affected many due to the actions of one person who apparently trespassed at an airport and lost their life as a result.”

You can watch the shocking footage below:

Very little is known about how the incident occurred, other than watching the pedestrian hopping a fence before walking casually across the runway, with it so far only confirmed that they weren't an employee at the airport.

The runway was cleared shortly after the incident, with a handful of passengers taken to hospital with minor injuries, although it was still a harrowing and scary experience for everyone on board.

One passenger suggested to the New York Post that he thought he was going to die after spotting the engine fire.

Jon Athens said: “When the engine blew up, I thought, ‘Oh s**t, we’re all going to die.

“My dad said when the engine fire went up, he was able to see the legs of a human spinning around in the engine…which sounds like emotional trauma to me,” his son Jacob, 30, explained.

“I would say the majority of people didn’t know what was going on or what happened, but there was just a big explosion,” John added.

“And obviously, you hear a big explosion, people start screaming, kids are crying, and it was horrific.”

LADbible Group has contacted Frontier Airlines for comment.