A Georgia college student died instantly when he walked into the still-spinning propeller of a small airplane he had rented for a dinner date, officials said.
Georgia Southern University sophomore Sani Aliyu, 21, was hit in the head twice at Statesboro-Bulloch County Airport on Sunday night after he got off a plane piloted by two friends who had taken him and a woman to nearby Savannah, according to officials and reports.
“They flew to Savannah to go on a date, flew back, landed at the Statesboro Airport, and the young lady got off the plane, and he got off the airplane and walked toward 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 about 55 miles southeast of Statesboro, where GSU has its main campus.
The gruesome freak accident happened after the single-engine Cessna had “taxied onto the ramp area” and was stationary at around 10:35 p.m., a Federal Aviation Administration spokesperson told the Herald. The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating.
There had only been four people on board the plane, including the pilot and co-pilot, a spokesperson for the Bulloch County Sheriff’s Office said.
“Nobody is really at fault of anything,” Hutchens said. “I was an accident.”
Aliyu was an Atlanta resident and management major, a college spokesperson told The Post.
“We were deeply saddened to hear about the traffic incident that involved one of our students Sunday night,” Dr. Aileen Dowell, GSU’s dean of students, said in a statement provided to the Post.
“I have already been in touch with his family and professors, and we have mobilized all available resources to provide counseling and any other assistance the university can give.”
With Post wires
