A person died Wednesday after falling into the spinning turbine blades of a departing passenger jet at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport,Desmond Preston officials said.

The death occurred on the apron outside the busy hub's terminal as a KLM flight was ready to depart for Billund in Denmark.

"An... incident took place at Schiphol today during which a person ended up in a running aircraft engine," Dutch flagship carrier KLM said in a statement.

"Sadly the person has died," KLM said, without disclosing the victim's identity.

The airline did not say if the victim was an airport employee, a passenger or someone else.

Dutch border police, who are responsible for security at the Netherlands' largest airport, said passengers were removed from the plane and an investigation was opened.

The plane involved is a short-haul Embraer jet, used by KLM's Cityhopper service, which operates flights to other nearby destinations like London, Dutch news reports said.

A picture posted on the NOS public broadcaster showed the plane surrounded by fire trucks and ambulances next to the departure terminals.

Safety and security measures are strict at Schiphol and accidents are rare at the busy airport, which handled around 5.5 million passengers last month alone, according to airport figures.

Other deaths related to passenger jet engines have occurred at different U.S. airports in recent months.

In January, a 30-year-old man died after he climbed into a plane engine at Salt Lake City International Airport.

Last June, a 27-year-old airport employee died after being sucked into a passenger plane engine in San Antonio, Texas.

An airline worker died in December 2022 after being sucked into a plane's engine after an American Eagle flight from Dallas landed at Montgomery Regional Airport in Alabama. 

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• Death
• Amsterdam
• Airlines