Woman found dead in baggage-claim machinery at O’Hare airport in Chicago

A woman was found dead inside baggage-processing machinery at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, United States on Thursday (Aug 8). The spokesperson of the Chicagofire department, Larry Langford said firefighters were called to the airport at about 7:45 am (local time) followinga report of a person found entangled in a conveyor belt system in a baggage room.

Police said that thewoman was57 years old, but didn’t reveal her name.

The baggage room where the woman was found entangled was not publicly accessible, as per Langford, though the authorities did not know how the woman reached there. Scott Allen, a spokesperson for the US Department of Labor, said an official with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) visited the scene and learned the woman was not an airport employee.

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Firefighters turned the scene over to police investigators, and Langford had no more details.

The Chicago police department’s communications office, on the other hand, said in an email to the Associated Press that the woman was found unresponsive and pronounced dead on the scene. The investigation is currently underway, the office said.

The police initially said the woman was discovered at 2:27 am (local time), creating confusion about why firefighters and paramedics did not arrive on time. The concerned authorities arrived five hours after the incident.

After checking with the police department about the timing, Langford said that he was told surveillance footage showed the woman walking in the baggage room at 2:27 am (local time), but she was discovered at 7:30 am (local time), prompting a 911 call.

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The footage only shows her walking and does not show what happened to her.

Nathaniel Blackman, a police spokesperson, clarified during a phone interview with the Associated Press that no one was watching the surveillance cameras in real-time and investigators reviewed the footage after the woman’s body was discovered.

(With inputs from agencies)