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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
World
Liam Buckler

Student killed by propeller of private plane he rented for extravagant dinner date

A student was killed by a propeller of the private plane he had rented for an extravagant dinner date.

Sani Aliyu, 21, from Atlanta, in the US, tragically died on Sunday night in a freak accident after walking into a spinning propeller of a small plane on the way back from a date.

The Georgia Southern University student was returning back to the plane when he was hit twice in the head at Statesboro-Bulloch County Airport after exiting, which was piloted by his two friends.

Mr Aliyu and his date were heading to nearby Savannah, which is around 55 miles of Statesboro from the main campus of the university, where he was studying.

Bulloch County Coroner Jake Futch told Statesboro Herlad: "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.”

He was hit twice in the head at Statesboro-Bulloch County Airport after he exited the plane (facebook.com/statesboroairport)

A Federal Aviation Administration spokesperson said the accident happened when the aircraft had “taxied onto the ramp area” and was left stood still around 10.35pm on Sunday.

The single-engine Cessna was carrying four passengers on the plane, the pilot, the co-pilot along with Mr Aliyu and his date.

No one else was injured.

A spokesperson for the Bulloch County Sheriff’s Office, Todd Hutchens, said the incident was an accident and no one was at fault: “Nobody is really at fault of anything. It was an accident.”

Georgia Southern University have paid tribute to Mr Aliyu, who was a management major, after one of their students was tragically killed.

The college said they were "saddened" to hear of the tragic news and have already been in contact with his parents and tutors to help support them.

Dr Aileen Dowell, GSU’s dean of students, said in a statement: “We were deeply saddened to hear about the traffic incident that involved one of our students Sunday night.

The Cessna 182 private plane held four passengers and the remaining three were uninjured (Getty Images)

“I have already been in touch with his family and professors, and we have mobilised all available resources to provide counselling and any other assistance the university can give.”

The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the tragic accident along with Bulloch County Sheriff’s Office.

Todd Hutchens, from the Bulloch County Sheriff's Office, confirmed cops are working with the aviation and transport safety authorities to determine how the accident happened.

The private jet crash comes just days after a small plane crashed into a car dealership in Ohio killing two people.

Ohio State Highway Patrol confirmed the 1974 Beechcraft King Air E90, which can carry up to ten passengers, crashed into the Pionner Buick GMC dealership parking lot at 7.15am in Marietta killing the pilot and a passenger.

The airplane, owned by Intel Management, was flying from Columbus, Ohio to Parkersburg, West Virginia when it crashed just after 7am.

Ohio State Highway Patrol confirmed they are investigating the cause of the crash.

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