Rick Bowmer/AP/File
The plane the man crawled onto at Salt Lake City International Airport was headed to San Francisco. The flight was later canceled.
CNN –
Police in Utah are investigating the death of a man who crawled into the engine of a grounded Delta Air Lines jet late Monday at Salt Lake City International Airport.
According to the airport, the 30-year-old man entered the airport's secure apron area via a terminal emergency exit, “ran to the southern end of the airport's western runway where de-icing work was being carried out, and crawled into an aircraft engine that was not there.” was.” is running.”
Rescue workers found the man “unconscious and were unable to revive him,” the airport said. “It is unclear at this point what injuries led to the man’s death.”
According to Salt Lake City police, the man was identified as Kyler Efinger, a resident of Park City, Utah.
Efinger had a boarding pass for a flight to Denver, the authority said.
According to Delta Air Lines, Flight 2348 – an Airbus A220 about to depart for San Francisco – then returned to the gate, where all 95 passengers disembarked. The flight was ultimately canceled.
Police responded to the airport around 10 p.m. after a branch manager at the airport called 911 to report a disturbance involving a passenger in a terminal, police said in a news release. The details of the disruption are still being investigated.
The passenger, Efinger, went through one of the terminal's emergency exit doors onto the outside ramp area of the airport, police said.
During the search, a pilot reported seeing the man, the statement said. Minutes later, officers found personal items, including clothing and shoes, on one of the runways.
About 10 minutes after the search began, dispatchers told police that the man was at one of the airport's aircraft de-icing pads, where he slipped under a plane and accessed the engine, police said. Police then asked air traffic controllers to instruct the pilot to turn off the plane's engines.
When officers arrived at the plane, they found Efinger unconscious and “partially in” one of the airliner's still-rotating wing engines, police said, noting that “the specific operating condition of the engine remains under investigation.”
“SLCPD officers and airport operations pulled the man from the engine intake cowl, secured the scene, began life-saving measures and requested emergency medical services,” the release said. These efforts included CPR and administration of naloxone.
According to police, Efinger died at the scene of the accident. An autopsy will be conducted to determine the cause and manner of death, and medical examiners may prepare a toxicology report, the department added.
According to airport police, the incident had no impact on other operations at the airport.
Salt Lake City police said they were investigating the incident, as were the Federal Aviation Administration, the National Transportation Safety Board and the Transportation Security Administration.
The National Transportation Safety Board said it was “gathering information” about the incident but said local police were investigating.
CNN's Joe Sutton contributed to this report.