A Taiwanese Air Force officer died after being sucked into the engine of a fighter jet, officials said.
The incident reportedly happened at Ching Chuan Kang Air Base on Tuesday while the master sergeant was performing a pre-shutdown inspection of the aircraft.
Taiwan’s Air Force said the officer was “inhaled by the engine for unknown reasons.” She later was pronounced dead after life-saving efforts were unsuccessful.
“In response to media reports that ‘it is suspected that an instructor’s throttle application caused a female officer to be inhaled by a fighter jet,’ the Air Force Command stated that the case is currently being investigated by a task force in cooperation with prosecutors to clarify the cause,” it added.
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Officials say they are “deeply saddened” by the death.
Taiwan’s Air Force also said that it will “fully assist the family in handling the aftermath” and that it will “conduct a comprehensive review and improve the work process to prevent similar cases from happening again.”
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The plane involved in the incident was an Indigenous Defense Fighter, the Taipei Times reported, adding that the victim served in the military for around 17 years.
A source familiar with the aircraft told the Taipei Times that the chance of a ground crew member being sucked into its engine – which has a fairly small intake opening — is “miniscule.”
The source said after the plane lands, its motor speed is on a slow rotation and should have been stopped by the time the wheel chocks were being deployed at the base.
Security cameras installed in the hangar of the base should provide the full picture as to what happened, the source added.
