These are the final moments of a man who reportedly took his own life by jumping into a plane’s jet engine.
Andrea Russo, 35, entered the terminal at Milan Bergamo Airport and abandoned his car before running through the airport without a ticket on Tuesday.
The builder made his way to a restricted area which leads to a runway, with two Border Police officers trying to stop him.
Despite grabbing hold of him, Andrea managed to free himself and ran onto the tarmac and ‘threw himself into one of the two turbofans’ on the Volotea Airbus A319 flight V73511 from Milan to Asturias.
Footage shows him jogging toward the plane and jumping at the side of the jet engine.
After crashing back down, he took a running leap towards the engine and onto the blades.
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Ground staff can be seen holding their heads in horror as Andrea’s body falls to the floor.
Police sources said the man had a history of ‘drug problems’, but he had been in recovery to ‘try and rebuild his life’.
‘We are investigating about possible relationships with the airport or the world of planes’, local prosecutor Maurizio Romanelli told reporters.
‘In the car with which he arrived at the airport, heaps of all kinds of material were found but we couldn’t find anything that could give any kind of explanation’.
Volotea Airlines said: ‘A person, who was not a passenger or airport personnel, trespassed onto the runway while the aircraft was preparing for takeoff.
‘Sadly, the person was struck by the engine and has passed away. The airline deeply regrets this tragic incident and extends its condolences to the family of the person involved.
‘All 154 passengers on board, along with the 6 Volotea crew members, are physically safe. Passengers were promptly deboarded and taken to a designated area, where provisions were made available.
‘Psychological support was also offered to both passengers and crew members. The affected passengers were rebooked on another Volotea flight that departed at 16:43h local time and landed in Asturias at 18:50h local time.
‘The airline also deployed additional staff at Asturias Airport to receive passengers and provide support upon arrival. Volotea has fully cooperated with local authorities and Milan-Bergamo Airport throughout the investigation.
‘The airline would like to express its gratitude to its crew for their swift response and support of passengers, as well as to its passengers for their cooperation during this difficult situation.
‘The safety and well-being of Volotea’s passengers, crew, and airport partners is the airline’s top priority. The airline expresses its condolences once again to all those affected by this incident.’
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