Woman Dies at Chicago's O'Hare Airport in Tragic Baggage Machine Incident
Editor’s Note: Our readers responded strongly to this story when it originally ran; we’re reposting it here in case you missed it.
An woman was found dead on Aug. 8 at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport when police discovered her tangled in baggage processing machinery.
The Chicago Fire Department responded at about 7:45 a.m. after a woman was reported to be “pinned in machinery” in the Terminal 5 baggage area, according to WLS-TV.
The woman was tangled up in a conveyor belt system that moves baggage.
“She was pinned in machinery,” Larry Merritt, a representative of the fire department said, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
She was pronounced dead at the scene. Police have not released her identity, but said she was 57 years old, according to WLS. The investigation into her death is continuing.
Chicago police said the woman entered the employees-only area shortly before 2:30 a.m. Police do not know why she entered the area.
The area where the woman was found is not a high-security area at the airport, even though it is restricted to employees.
Officials said baggage on international flights is processed in the area.
“You wonder how that would all happen — how does someone go in and just wind up dead in a matter of five hours? What happened back there?” said someone identified as “Timmy,” who was at the airport to pick up someone, per WFLD-TV.
“I’m very shocked that in such a secure place that someone can die so tragically,” said Phil, who works at the airport.
Surveillance video documented that the woman entered the baggage area at 2:27 a.m.
Police representative Nathaniel Blackman said that no one was monitoring the video feed at the time.
The footage was first seen after the woman’s body was found, according to The Associated Press.
The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration said it is not investigating the incident because the woman is not an airport employee, according to CBS.
The terminal where the woman was found services Delta and international airlines, according to the Sun-Times.
Delta representative Drake X. Castañeda said Delta is “fully cooperating with law enforcement and airport officials.”
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