Passengers on Frontier flight that fatally struck person on runway describe moments before the incident
Kit Roberts
Featured Image Credit: Kevin Carter/Getty Images
Passengers on a Frontier Flight have recalled seeing the engines on fire after it fatally hit someone on the runway.
The flight had been departing from Denver International Airport in the US, and one passenger recalled how the 'wheels left the ground' when the incident happened.
One person is confirmed to have died in the incident, with shocking air traffic control recordings describing 'human remains' on the runway.
In a statement after the tragedy, Denver International Airport said: "Frontier Flight 4345 reported striking a pedestrian during takeoff at DEN at approximately 11:19 p.m. on Friday, May 8, 2026. There was a brief engine fire that was promptly extinguished by the Denver Fire Dept."
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Now, several passengers travelling on board the flight have opened up about the moment that the incident unfolded.
Speaking to NBC News, one person described how there was a 'jerk on the plane' just as it was about to take off.
"We immediately came back down, there was fire on the engine, there was lots of sparks that are happening," he said.
"As soon as we saw the sparks on the flight smoke filled the cabin completely. It was super hard to breathe."
He went on to say how they had to sit there for between two and four minutes, before being evacuated using the chutes on the doors.
Another passenger said: "Look to my right the engine's on fire, literally the engine's on fire, smoke's coming in the cabin.
"I'm just holding it down for a sec, we slow down, everyone's panicking, I just trying to relax, everyone's screaming, people were getting up.
"It was a little scary, you know?"
Someone else who was on the plane expressed her sympathy for the pilots, saying she 'felt terrible for the pilot'.
She added: "But we're alive, nothing happened to us other than a minor inconvenience, we're alive and that's the good thing, right?"
Meanwhile, 56-year-old John Anthens told the New York Post: “When the engine blew up, I thought, ‘Oh s–t, we’re all going to die.
“The majority of people didn’t know what was going on or what happened, but there was just a big explosion and, obviously, when you hear a big explosion, people start screaming, kids are crying and it was horrific.”
Denver International Airport has since confirmed that the person on the runway had 'jumped the perimeter fence' and that they were killed in the collision in a statement posted on social media.
They have not been publicly identified yet, but the airport said that they are 'not believed to be an employee of the airport'.