Person decapitated by helicopter at Tampa Bay Airport, reports say

A maintenance worker was decapitated by a helicopter Thursday at the Brooksville-Tampa Bay Regional Airport, reports say.

The person was doing routine maintenance while on the ground when he or she was struck, ABC News reported.

The Hernando County Sheriff’s Office told the Miami Herald detectives would not comment on the person’s cause of death because next of kin has yet to be notified.

Police spokeswoman Denise M. Moloney confirmed that a death investigation is under way. The incident happened at about 3:35 p.m. Thursday.

“I believe fire rescue was on the way but we cancelled them because it was a very obvious death,” she said.

In an email, a spokesperson for the the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) told the Miami Herald it could “only confirm an individual was fatally injured, but not the specific nature of the injury.”

This story was originally published January 10, 2019 at 7:27 PM.

Monique O. Madan

Miami Herald

305-376-2108

Monique O. Madan covers immigration and enterprise; she previously covered breaking news and local government. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Boston Herald and The Dallas Morning News. In 2019 she was a Reveal Fellow at the Center for Investigative Reporting. She’s a graduate of Harvard University, Emerson College and The Honors College at Miami Dade College. A note to tipsters: If you want to send Monique confidential information, her email and mailbox are open. You can find all her stories here: moniqueomadan.com. You can also direct message her on social media and she’ll provide encrypted Signal details. Support my work with a digital subscription