Airport Baggage Handler Dies After Her Hair Got Caught In Belt Loader Machinery

A female baggage handler has died after her hair got stuck in machinery at an airport in Louisiana. 

This past Tuesday, 26-year-old Jermani Thompson tragically died after her hair got stuck in a belt loader, which is used to move luggage to and from an airplane. At the time, she was offloading a Frontier jet. She was immediately taken to the hospital, where she died from her injuries.

“She loved basketball,” said Jermani’s mother, adding that she was an energetic basketball player who often made friends with anyone she was around. “She was my baby girl. Everybody loved her.”

Jermani played basketball in high school and attended Tyagaloo College, where she received a degree in sociology. “I’m just lost for words,” Dorsey added of her daughter’s death. “I can’t even think.”

In response to her death, the GAT Airline Ground Support team sent their condolences to the Thompson family.

“We are deeply saddened about the tragic loss of GAT Airline Ground Support team member, Jermani Thompson,” said Kevin Dolliole, Director of Aviation for Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport.

“The Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport extends its sincere condolences to her family and friends, and also to our partners at GAT and Frontier Airlines,” Dolliole added. “Jermani was a part of our Airport family, and we will continue to support one another in any way we can during this trying time.”