ATLANTA (AP) — Two workers were killed and another seriously injured Tuesday when a tire exploded at a Delta Air Lines maintenance facility near the Atlanta airport.
Delta said the explosion occurred when wheel parts were being disassembled for maintenance at a wheel and brake shop. The airline said that the parts were not attached to the aircraft at that time.
The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration said it had opened an investigation. Delta said it is working with authorities and the cause of the explosion has not been released.
Several Atlanta fire departments and police responded to the maintenance hangar near Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport just after 5 a.m. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. The airport said no flights were affected, and Delta said its maintenance operation was unaffected.
“The Delta family is heartbroken by the loss of two crew 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 at this incredibly difficult time.”
Delta thanked first responders and medical teams and said the injured worker remained under medical care as of Tuesday afternoon.
“We are now working with local authorities to conduct a full investigation to determine what happened,” the Atlanta-based airline said.
The Federal Aviation Administration said it was in contact with Delta, but the FAA referred a request for more information about the apparent crash to the airline. Eric Lucero, a spokesman for OSHA, said the federal workplace-safety agency has opened an investigation.
The facility where the explosion occurred is part of Delta TechOps, which performs maintenance, repair and overhaul work for Delta and more than 150 airline and aviation customers around the world.
Delta Executive Vice President John Laughter, head of TechOps, said in a memo to employees that the airline will make consultants 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 express his condolences to the victims’ relatives.
The International Union of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, which is trying to organize 20,000 ground workers at Delta, asked the airline and officials to “expeditiously launch a thorough investigation into how this happened.”
