Plane Tire Explosion Kills 2 Near Atlanta Airport

Two workers were killed and a third was seriously injured early Tuesday after a tire exploded in a Delta Air Lines maintenance facility near Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. Officials say the plane tire exploded while it was being changed, USA Today reports. Sources tell WSB-TV that a Delta employee and a contractor were killed and a second Delta employee was hospitalized with major injuries. Airport operations were not affected by the accident, which happened around 5am.

The facility where the accident happened is part of Delta TechOps, which performs maintenance and repair work for Delta and more than 150 other customers, the AP reports. “The Delta family is heartbroken at the loss of two team members and the injury of another following an incident this morning at the Atlanta Technical Operations Maintenance facility (TOC 3),” the airline said in a statement. The tire was on an aircraft that arrived in Atlanta from Las Vegas Sunday night, according to WSB-TV.

Delta TechOps Chief of Operations and President John Laughter told employees the accident happened in the facility’s wheel and brake shop. “We are extending our full support to their families at this difficult time and conducting an investigation to determine what happened,” he said in a message to staff seen by USA Today. “This news is heartbreaking for all of us.” (More Delta Air Lines stories.)