:-AIRPORT WORKER SUCKED INTO JET ENGINE Nov 3 2004
By Stephen Moyes
AN aircraft engineer suffered a gruesome death when he was sucked into a jet engine.
His body was completely shredded and all that was left was his boots strewn under the plane.
The man had been examining the engine when the pilot, not realising he was under the plane, started it up.
Within seconds the engineer's entire body was sucked through the huge rotor blades.
His screams were drowned out by the roar of the engines.
Blood was splattered on the ground near the Boeing 737-700 about to leave Moscow for London.
Everything apart from his work boots were chewed up by the powerful CFM56 engine.
The plane, owned by Kazakhstan-based airline Air Astana, was taken out of service to be cleaned.
Airport authorities are investigating the incident.
An airline source said yesterday: "This was a tragic accident. Everyone is in shock. The engineer was examining an engine but the pilot had not been notified.
"Within seconds of starting up the engines the worker was dead.
"It is highly unusual because there are strict safety procedures between pilots and engineers to ensure these tragedies don't happen.
"The only comfort for the engineer's family and colleagues was that he would have died very quickly and not known much about it."
Russian airport authorities yesterday confirmed the incident but would not add further details.
The victim's name, age and the precise date of his death have not yet been revealed.
Cheers,
White Cap