Footage captures final moments of passenger who died after climbing into plane engine
Topics: Mental Health, News, US News, Travel
Kit Roberts
Featured Image Credit: FOX 13 News
Topics: Mental Health, News, US News, Travel
Harrowing footage has shown the final moments of a man who died after climbing into a plane engine.
Kyler Efinger, 30, died on new year's day after running onto the tarmac at Salt Lake City Airport and climbing into one of the engines of an airliner.
Now, new footage obtained by FOX shows Efinger's final moments as he made his way through the airport.
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His family believes the tragic incident stemmed from a mental health crisis while the 30-year-old had been on the way to visit his sick grandfather in Denver.
His father Judd Efinger told Fox 13: “He got held up in security, missed his flight, and those phone calls, I just knew it was coming on.
"They call it the manic phase. Those just don’t end well for him. Obviously, this one, the worst ever."
In the video, Efinger can be seen moving through the airport, before eventually managing to get onto the tarmac, where a flight was in the process of being de-iced before taking off for San Francisco.
A harrowing final clip shows thermal imaging out on the airport tarmac.
The plane is clearly marked out, with the unmistakable outline of a person seen moving quickly towards it.
Efinger was found 'partially inside a wing-mounted engine'. Emergency workers pulled him out from the engine cowling and attempted life-saving measures.
Despite their efforts, Efinger was pronounced dead at the scene.
The incident is currently being investigated by police, the Federal Aviation Administration, the National Transportation Safety Board, and the Transportation Security Administration
A medical examiner has yet to determine the cause of death.
A statement released by Delta Airlines, who was operating the plane, read: “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,”
A statement from Salt Lake City Airport said: "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 [Salt Lake City] to SFO [San Francisco International Airport]. Emergency personnel responded to the scene and found the man unconscious and were not able to revive him. It is unclear at this time what injuries caused the man’s death."