A Georgia college student was killed instantly when he was struck by the still-spinning propeller of a small plane he had rented for a dinner party. romantic authorities said.
Georgia State University (GSU) sophomore Sani Aliyu, 21, was hit twice in the head at the Statesboro-Bulloch County Airport last Sunday night after getting off a plane flown by two friends that had taken him and a woman to nearby Savannah, according to officials and some media.
“They flew to Savannah to go on a date, they flew back, they landed at the Statesboro airport, and the young lady got off the plane, and he got off the plane and walked to the front of the plane, and when he did, the propeller hit him,” Bulloch County Coroner Jake Futch told the Statesboro Herald.
Savannah is about 55 miles southeast of Statesboro, where GSU has its main campus.
The gruesome and bizarre accident occurred after the single-engine Cessna had “circled in the ramp area” and was stationary around 10:35 p.m., a spokesperson for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) told the Herald. . The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the event.
There were only four people on board the plane, including the pilot and co-pilot, a Bulloch County Sheriff’s Office spokesman said.
“No one is really to blame or anything,” Capt. Todd Hutchens told the newspaper. “It was an accident.”
Aliyu was an Atlanta resident majoring in management, a university spokesperson told The New York Post.
“We were deeply saddened to hear about the traffic incident involving one of our students on Sunday night,” Dr. Aileen Dowell, GSU dean of students, said in a statement provided to the outlet.
“I have already been in contact with his family and professors, and we have mobilized all available resources to provide advice and any other help that the university can provide,” the media collected.