Tourist killed by jet-engine blast on Caribbean island

A plane lands at Princess Juliana International Airport.
(Image credit: Screenshot/YouTube/One News New Zealand)

A New Zealand woman was killed Wednesday on the island of St. Maarten after a jet-engine blast blew her away from the fence she was hanging onto and into a retaining wall, police said Thursday.

The area where the Princess Juliana International Airport meets Maho Beach is a popular tourist attraction, with people lining up along the fence that separates the airport from the beach to watch jets skim over beachgoers as they land and feel the extreme wind from engines when they prepare to take off. The unidentified 57-year-old woman was at the fence when she was "blown away by the jet blast and was seriously injured," police said. She was rushed to St. Maarten Medical Center, where she died.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.