Woman Dies in Conveyor Belt Accident at O’Hare Airport

A woman has died after becom­ing entan­gled in a con­vey­or belt sys­tem at Chicago’s O’Hare Inter­na­tion­al Air­port. The inci­dent occurred in the Ter­mi­nal 5 bag­gage area, where the woman was dis­cov­ered trapped in the machinery.

Tragedy at O’Hare

Accord­ing to the Chica­go Fire Depart­ment, they received a call around 7:45 am on Thurs­day report­ing a woman “pinned in machin­ery.” Fire­fight­ers rushed to the scene and found the 57-year-old woman trapped in the con­vey­or belt sys­tem. Trag­i­cal­ly, para­medics pro­nounced her dead at the scene.

Restricted Area Access

The woman was not an air­port employ­ee, and author­i­ties report­ed that she had entered a restrict­ed, employ­ees-only area just before 2:30 am, mean­ing her body was not dis­cov­ered for sev­er­al hours. 

While the area is con­sid­ered secure, it is not a high-secu­ri­ty zone, as it is filled with con­vey­or belts that move lug­gage to and from planes, as well as cus­toms processing.

Investigation Underway

The inci­dent has been declared a crime scene, and the inves­ti­ga­tion has been turned over to the Chica­go Police Department. 

Author­i­ties have not yet released the wom­an’s iden­ti­ty or pro­vid­ed any infor­ma­tion about her rea­sons for being at the air­port dur­ing the ear­ly morn­ing hours.