A man was been found passed away in the engine of an aircraft by airport workers.
On 1 January, 2024 at around 10:10pm a 30-year-old man was found unconscious in a plane's engine at Salt Lake City International Airport.
The Salt Lake Police Department has since launched an investigation into his death.
According to a police report by Salt Lake City Police Department (SLCPD), a store manager inside the airport contacted authorities with a report of a 'disturbance involving a passenger on the secured side of the terminal' at around 9:52pm.
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The statement continues: "As officers with the Salt Lake City Police Department’s Airport Division responded, Airport Control informed officers that the man passed through an emergency exit door."
Airport Operations employees and members of the SLCPD began searching for the man and discovered he'd gone through the emergency exit before going to the airport's ramp area.
They then searched an 'occupied' commercial plane and discovered the man 'unconscious inside a wing-mounted engine'.
Police report officers and airport employees 'worked to get the man out of the engine intake cowling'.
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"A cowling is a protective covering that’s used to house an engine," Monroe Aerospace states.
"They are commonly found on automotive engines as well as airplane engines. By definition, a cowling is simply an engine covering. They cover and protect the engines on which they are used."
Despite efforts to revive the man by the Salt Lake City Fire Department, Airport Operations team and SLCPD, the man sadly passed away at the scene.
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Passengers on the plane were escorted off and the area was secured so the scene could be processed and analysed by the Salt Lake City Police Department's Crime Lab.
As of earlier today, the man's name had not been confirmed nor his cause of death ascertained.
Police note: "No further information on this case is being released."
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Salt Lake City International Airport's communications director Nancy Volmer said in a statement, as per ABC 3340 News: "The individual ran to the south end of the airport’s west runway where deicing operations were underway and crawled into an aircraft engine that was not running. The plane was enroute from SLC to (San Francisco)."
A spokesperson for Delta Airlines - the company in charge of the plane the man was discovered on - told KUTV: "As nothing is more important than the safety and security of our customers and people, Delta is fully cooperating with all aviation authority and law enforcement investigations."
UNILAD has reached out to Salt Lake City International Airport and Delta Airlines for comment.
If you have experienced a bereavement and would like to speak with someone in confidence, contact Cruse Bereavement Care via their national helpline on 0808 808 1677
Poppy Bilderbeck