Man breaks through airport security and runs toward a plane. Staff chase him but he throws himself into the jet engine

A 35-year-old man died in horrible circumstances at Milan Bergamo Airport in Italy on July 8, 2025, after breaking through security and running into the running jet engine of a plane that was about to take off. The man was Andrea Russo from Calcinate, and he was not a passenger or airport worker when this happened.

Russo showed up at the airport at around 10:20 in his red Fiat 500 and left the car in the parking lot. He ran into the arrivals area and broke through a security door to get onto the runway. A Volotea Airlines Airbus A319 was getting ready to fly to Asturias, Spain, with 154 passengers and 6 crew members on board. The plane had just finished boarding and was moving away from the gate when Russo got onto the runway. People on another plane saw what happened and described the terrible events.

According to NY Post, one passenger said that he saw a man running away from airport workers. “At first he threw himself against the casings, the protections of the right engine of the plane, then he went around and either threw himself or was sucked into the impeller of the left engine: then what happened, happened,” the witness said. Airport staff and police tried hard to stop him, but Russo made it to the moving plane and was pulled into the running engine.

It looks like he did this on purpose

Police believe Russo may have wanted to take his own life. Italian news agency ANSA reported that he had problems with drug addiction before and had spent time in a treatment center. Prosecutor Maurizio Romanelli said investigators are trying to find out if Russo had any connection to the airport or planes. “In the car with which he arrived at the airport, full of all kinds of material, we have not found anything that could provide any kind of explanation,” Romanelli said.

People on the Volotea flight said they heard a loud noise and a bang when it happened. A Spanish passenger named Carmen Garcia told La Nueva Espana that the plane was getting ready to take off with the engines on when a person came running toward them: “Suddenly, we heard a noise and a bang. Some people saw something through the window and put their hands to their heads,” she said. The flight crew told passengers not to look out the windows as help arrived.

The airport stopped all flights for almost two hours after this happened, which affected hundreds of travelers. Volotea Airlines said in a statement that all passengers and crew members on board were safe and got help to deal with what they saw. “The airline deeply regrets this tragic incident and extends its condolences to the family of the person involved,” the company said.

Giovanni Sanga is the president of SACBO, the company that runs Bergamo Airport. He said the event upset everyone at the airport, that he felt sorry for Russo’s family, and confirmed that the airport was helping staff members who saw what happened. 

The Italian Civil Aviation Authority said that even though this was a tragedy, there were no security problems and the airport’s safety rules worked the way they should. But the incident has made people ask questions about how airports keep restricted areas safe. While airport problems can happen in different ways, this sad event shows why airports need to keep watching out for both passengers and people who might be going through a hard time.