By Benoît Morenne

A Frontier Airlines plane bound for Los Angeles hit and killed a person on the runway at Denver International airport late on Friday.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said that a trespasser breached airport security, scaled a perimeter fence and ran out onto a runway.

He said the person was then struck by Frontier Airlines Flight 4345 during takeoff at high speed. The pilot stopped takeoff procedures immediately.

Duffy said the Frontier plane was evacuated. Preliminary reports show 12 people were hurt, with five taken to the hospital, he said.

Shortly after the plane was cleared for takeoff, a pilot said to a controller, "We're stopping on the runway...We just hit somebody, we have an engine fire," according to recordings of communications. The pilot then added that "there was an individual walking across the runway."

A few minutes later, the pilot told the controller that there was smoke in the aircraft and that passengers were going to be evacuated on the runway.

Denver International Airport said on X that the plane reported striking a pedestrian at approximately 11:19 p.m. It said there was a brief engine fire that was promptly extinguished by the Denver Fire Department. There were 231 people on board the flight, it said.

The airport said the pedestrian jumped the perimeter fence and was hit two minutes later while crossing the runway. It said the person is deceased and isn't believed to be an employee of the airport. The person hasn't been identified.

Duffy said local law enforcement is investigating the accident with support from the Federal Aviation Administration and the Transportation Security Administration. The National Transportation Safety Board has been notified, the airport said.

Accidents in which airplanes hit people on the runway are rare. In 2020, a Southwest Airlines plane landing at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport struck and killed a man who had hopped the perimeter fence.

Write to Benoît Morenne at benoit.morenne@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 09, 2026 10:33 ET (14:33 GMT)

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