Holidaymaker killed by plane’s jet blast in “freak accident” at popular Caribbean beach was mum-of-three hotel owner

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Gayleen McEwan (right) was visiting the island with her husband and friends(Image: Facebook/Natarsha McEwan)

 

Source: www.mirror.co.uk 

By CHRIS KITCHING

Gayleen McEwan, 57, was holding onto a chain link fence that divides the airport and Maho Beach, where aircraft fly just above tourists’ heads as they come in to land, when she fell and hit her head.

A mum-of-three and hotel owner has been identified as the tourist who died after she was blown off her feet by the powerful jet blast of a passenger plane.

Gayleen McEwan, 57, and others were holding onto a chain link fence that divides the airport and a famous beach where aircraft fly just above holidaymakers’ heads as they come in to land.

They were watching a plane take off in the Dutch Caribbean territory of Sint Maarten when the jet blast blew her backwards, causing her to fall and hit her head on the pavement.

Witnesses rushed to her side and performed CPR and comforted her, but she died after suffering serious injuries in what her family have described as a “freak accident”.