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Bag with napkins and towels saves aircraft cleaner’s life at Krasnoyarsk airport

Pilots stopped the engine as soon as they saw napkins and pieces of fabric flying all over the airfield
Photo ITAR-TASS
Photo ITAR-TASS

KRASNOYARSK, July 19 (Itar-Tass) —— A woman who was hurt by the propeller of an An-24 airplane at Krasnoyarsk’s Cheremshanka airport on Thursday escaped death thanks to a bag with blinds, napkins and towels she was carrying before her.

“The bag took the blow. Pilots stopped the engine as soon as they saw napkins and pieces of fabric flying all over the airfield. The woman was taken to hospital, Irina Belova, the press secretary of the Siberian air transport police department, told Itar-Tass.

According to Belova, the 39-year-old woman was a cabin cleaner. It is yet to find out why she was staying near the airplane. “It looks like the woman has got off with a scratch: she received head, chest and hand injuries of moderate gravity,” she said.

The accident took place at 09:05 a.m. local time (05:05 a.m. Moscow time) on Thursday. The woman was working in the airfield when the An-24 started its engine. “She didn’t hear an aircraft technician’s warnings and was hurt by the propeller,” according to a spokeswoman for the Siberian transport prosecutor’s office.

An investigation is underway.