A New Zealand Woman Dies After The Injury Sustained Due To Jet Engine Blast In Sint Maarten
- A New Zealand woman has succumbed to injuries after the blast from a powerful jet engine.
- learn more about the incident and the dangers in the popular tourist attraction of Sint Maarten.
The Incident
Recently, a woman from New Zealand died on the Caribbean territory of Sint Maarten. It was after a blast from a powerful jet engine knocked her to the ground.
The incident happened at the famous Princess Juliana International Airport, which is located just meters from the beach.
The tourist island’s tourism director, Rolando Brison, told the New Zealand Herald that he had spoken to the family of the dead woman.
“I met with the family of the deceased this evening and while they recognized that what they did was wrong, through the clearly visible danger signs, they regret that risk they took turned out in the worst possible way,”
he said.
The newspaper also said that the jet that was taking off was a Boeing 737, a commercial jet. Various local media reports said the woman, identified as Gayleen McEwan, struck her head on concrete when she was blown back from the fence line.
Police said the 57-year-old Kiwi had been holding on to the fence before the force of the jet engines threw her backward, causing serious injury. She died at the hospital during treatment.
Cautionary Signs
This particular stretch of Maho beach is very much popular with tourists, partly because the planes fly extremely low over the sand before landing. The beginning of the runway is just 50 m from the fence, which is about the same distance as the waterline.
Beachgoer tourists can walk up to the airport fence as planes take off. There are a number of prominent warning signs in the area which instruct the beach-going tourists not to stand near the fence because of the dangerous air blasts.
Behavior Of The Tourists
Despite the danger and warning signs, a number of videos circulating online show tourists clinging to the fence to prevent. In some cases, some of them are almost being lifted off the ground by the powerful flow of air.
In a statement, the Sint Maarten police said they visit the area daily to discourage tourists from clinging to the runway fence.
“The landing and taking off of all types and size of aircrafts at the international airport of Sint Maarten is well known worldwide as major tourist attraction,”
the police said.
“Many tourists come to the island to experience the thrills of the landing of approaching aircrafts flying low above their heads and the holding on to the airport fence and standing in the jet blast of large aircraft taking off. Doing this is, however, extremely dangerous.”
