Boeing tire explosion kills two

Delta Air Lines jet maintenance incident reportedly “sent a piece of metal flying like a missile”

The explosion of a Boeing jet’s tire killed two workers and injured another at Atlanta’s airport on Tuesday, local media has reported.

The Boeing 757-232 jet, belonging to Delta Air Lines, had been undergoing maintenance at a Delta Technical Operations Maintenance (Delta TechOps) hangar since Sunday. It remains unclear what caused the explosion. However, according to FOX 5 Atlanta sources, the tire had already been removed from the plane at that time.

The blast “sent a piece of metal flying like a missile,” killing two employees instantly, while another was rushed to a hospital with serious injuries, according to local television channel WSB-TV.

The Clayton County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the victims as Mirko Marweg, 58, and Luis Aldarondo, 37.

Delta TechOps President and Operations Chief John Laughter confirmed the deaths of two team members. “Tragically, two of our team members involved passed away, and one other team member was seriously injured,” Laughter said in a statement shared by the media, offering support to the victims’ families and promising an investigation into the incident.

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Boeing has faced increased scrutiny in recent years due to various flaws discovered in its aircraft, leading to safety concerns and investigations. Most recently, Boeing halted test flights of its 777X jetliner after inspections revealed failures in critical parts of three out of four test aircraft.

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Last month, the US Justice Department submitted a plea agreement in a case against Boeing, marking the final stages of a lengthy legal saga involving the deaths of two whistleblowers. Boeing has agreed to plead guilty to fraud charges for misleading US regulators and attempting to conceal faults with its MCAS stability system. The company failed to inform or train airlines about the system, which contributed to two crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed nearly 350 people.

The aerospace giant has agreed to pay a $243.6 million fine and invest an additional $455 million in safety and compliance programs over the next three years. Additionally, it will submit to three years of probation under a monitoring body appointed by the US government.