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A 30-year-old man was found dead inside the engine of a Delta Air Lines plane at Salt Lake City International Airport on Monday (January 1) night.
Airport authorities said that the man, who was not identified, opened a door near a retail area of the airport that led to the airfield just after 10 p.m. The man then ran toward a plane that was being deiced ahead of takeoff.
"The individual ran to the south end of the airport's west runway where deicing operations were underway and crawled into an aircraft engine that was not running," Nancy Volmer, Salt Lake City International Airport's communications director, said in a statement.
There were 95 people on the plane, which was heading to San Francisco, California.
The man was unconscious when he was located behind the engine's removable cover by police and airport staff. Paramedics attempted to perform life-saving measures but were unsuccessful, and the man was declared dead at the scene.
Officials said they are awaiting the results of the autopsy to determine how he died.
Delta Air Lines said that the flight was canceled after the incident. All of the passengers were safely deplaned and booked on other flights.