Two workers were killed and another seriously injured on Tuesday in a tyre explosion at a Delta Air Lines maintenance facility near the Atlanta airport.
Delta said the explosion took place while wheel components were being disassembled for maintenance at a wheel and brake shop. The parts were not attached to a plane at the time, the airline said.
The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration said it opened an investigation. Delta said it was working with authorities and the cause of the explosion has not been released.
Several Atlanta fire units and police responded to the maintenance hangar near Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport just after 5am local time, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper reported. Flights into and out of the airport were not affected.
“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,” Delta said in a statement.
“We have extended our full support to family members and colleagues during this incredibly difficult time.”
Delta thanked first responders and medical teams, and said the injured worker remained under medical care late on Tuesday afternoon.
“We are now working with local authorities and conducting a full investigation to determine what happened,” the Atlanta-based airline said.
We’re all in this together and we’ll get through this by supporting each other
The Federal Aviation Administration said it was in contact with Delta, but referred a request for additional information about the apparent accident to the airline. A spokesman for the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Eric Lucero, said the agency had started an investigation.
The facility where the explosion happened is part of Delta TechOps, which performs maintenance, repair and overhaul work for Delta and more than 150 aviation and airline customers around the world.
The president of TechOps, Delta executive vice-president John Laughter, said in a note to staff that the airline will make counsellors available to employees.
“We’re all in this together and we’ll get through this by supporting each other,” he said.
Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens posted on X to offer his condolences to relatives of the victims.
The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, which is trying to organise 20,000 ground workers at largely non-union Delta, called on the airline and authorities “to quickly launch a thorough investigation into how this happened”.
