Jack Fenton got out of a Bell 407 helicopter and lost his life.
Photo: CHRISTOS THEODORIDES/AFP/Getty Images
A British tourist died in Greece after being dismembered by the blades of a helicopter, after getting too close to the aircraft with the engines still running..
The 22-year-old man is believed to have been returning from a holiday on the Greek island of Mykonos via Athens. The man was getting out of the Bell 407 helicopter at a Spata airport, near the Greek capital, last Monday around 6:30 pm, according to the Greek City Times.
The British media identified him as Jack Fentona student at Oxford Brookes University.
He disembarked from the helicopter after it landed at the Superior Air heliport and was understood to have been taken by staff to a safe location away from the fugitive, The Sun reported.
The outlet said Fenton quickly walked back from the reception to the helicopter, despite horrified onlookers yelling at him to stop. She was reportedly talking on a cell phone. He was then hit in the head by the high speed rotor blade.
The helicopter pilot and other passengers watched as the blade killed him, and the pilot is said to be “deeply traumatized” by the accident.
Emergency services were called to the private heliport on the outskirts of Athens, but the man is believed to have been killed almost instantly by the blades.
Fenton and three other British tourists, including his sister, had chartered the helicopter in Mykonos to fly back to Athens, the Greek City Times reported.
Fenton’s parents were flying in a helicopter behind him, with The Sun reporting that the stunned pilot told the parents’ pilot over the radio to postpone their landing at Athens airport so they wouldn’t see their dead son.
Greek police are investigating, and according to the Greek City Times, investigating the pilot who landed the aircraft as to why passengers were allowed to exit while the rotors were still spinning.
Giorgos Kalliakmanis, head of the police union, told Greece’s MEGA news channel that the pilot could face manslaughter charges if he is believed to be at fault.
“These propellers run for about two minutes from the time you turn off the motor, unless you press a button that stops them after 50 seconds,” Kalliakmanis said.
“The helicopter door has no security, anyone who wants to open the door and get out can. The preliminary investigation will reveal whether the pilot told them to get out when the propeller and engines had stopped.”
Police are also investigating whether there was a possibility Fenton ran to the helicopter to take a selfie, The Sun reported, citing a police source.
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Source-eldiariony.com