10 Aug 2024

Woman dies in Chicago airport baggage belt accident

8:55 am on 10 August 2024
A baggage claim area at O'Hare International Airport.

Photo: SCOTT OLSON

By Rachel Looker of BBC

A woman has died after becoming trapped in a conveyor belt in a baggage area at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport.

Larry Langford, a spokesperson for the Chicago Fire Department, told local media the woman was "entangled in the conveyor belt system used to move baggage" in one of the airport's non-public baggage rooms.

Police gave the woman's age as 57 but did not release her name.

The US Department of Labor told local media that the woman was not an airport employee.

The Chicago Fire Department responded to a call around 07:30 local time to an unresponsive female pinned to machinery used to move baggage.

The woman was found in a baggage area in Terminal 5 of the airport, which is used for international flights.

Policy say the woman was seen on surveillance video walking into the unoccupied, restricted area around 02:30 local time.

The area was not considered a high-security area and would not have been considered a security breach.

Chicago police are conducting a death investigation pending a post-mortem examination on the body.

This story was originally published by BBC

Get the RNZ app

for ad-free news and current affairs