3 hurt in O'Hare jet blast
By Josh Noel
Tribune staff reporter
Published October 19, 2006, 11:26 AM CDT
Two disembarking passengers and an airline baggage handler were injured at O'Hare International Airport this morning when they were struck by a luggage cart that was knocked over by the blast from a jet engine from a plane on the tarmac, authorities said.
The accident occurred about 8:20 a.m. at gate F1 outside Terminal 2, according to Chicago Department of Aviation spokeswoman Wendy Abrams.
The baggage handler was reported in serious condition and taken to Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, according to the Chicago Fire Department.
The passengers were less seriously hurt, Abrams said. One of them refused treatment. The other was taken to Resurrection Medical Center in Chicago.
(Earlier, the Department of Aviation had reported that all three of the injured persons were O'Hare workers.)
The mishap came as passengers were deplaning a SkyWest Airlines jet via a stairway onto the tarmac, Abrams said. A jet blast from an incoming Mesa Airlines jet that was heading to a gate knocked over a baggage cart serving the SkyWest flight, she said.
"It's too soon to speculate how the incident occurred," she said, saying the Department of Aviation and the involved airlines were investigating.
She said it was unclear whether the cart or the incoming jet were in areas they should not have been.
