A person was killed after they jumped a fence late Friday at Denver International Airport and was hit by a plane during takeoff.

The plane’s crew, a Frontier Airlines flight from Denver to Los Angeles, reported hitting someone at about 11:20 p.m.

“We’re stopping on the runway,” the pilot tells the control tower according to the site ATC.com. “We just hit somebody. We have an engine fire.”

Denver Fire responded and put out the fire.

The person, who has not yet been identified, was struck by the plane about two minutes after jumping the fence, the airport said on social media. The person is not believed to be an employee of the airport. A check of the airport’s exterior fence line found it to be intact.

Passengers were safely evacuated using slides, Frontier said. Emergency crews took them by bus to the terminal. Frontier said the flight was rescheduled and would take off Saturday morning.

The airport said the runway will be closed while the investigation is conducted. It reopened at about 11 a.m.

The plane, an Airbus A321, was carrying 224 passengers and seven crew members, Frontier said. Of those, 12 reported minor injuries and five people were taken to the hospital, the airport said.

“We are investigating this incident and gathering more information in coordination with the airport and other safety authorities,” the airline said. “We are deeply saddened by this event.”

Passengers who spoke to 9News described a chaotic scene. They said a loud “boom” was heard during takeoff, leading to passengers screaming as smoke filled the cabin.

Passengers were evacuated after a few minutes.

Nikil Thalanki told 9News that the plane was just leaving the ground when it went back down due to the engine fire and smoke.

“There was suddenly like this jerk on the plane and then we were about to take off,” Thalanki said. “I think our wheels left the ground and then we immediately came back down. There was fire on the engine. There was lots of sparks that are happening. Immediately came to a stop. As soon as we saw the sparks in the, on the flight, smoke filled the cabin completely. It was super hard to breathe.”

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a post on X that the person “breached airport security at Denver Int’l Airport, deliberately scaled a perimeter fence, and ran out onto a runway.”

He added: “No one should EVER trespass on an airport.”

The Denver Gazette’s news partners 9News contributed reporting.