A college student was killed after stepping off a small plane and walking into its propeller.

Sani Aliyu, 21, of Atlanta, was on a date with a young woman and the couple had flown on a single-engine Cessna to Savannah and back. The propeller plane landed safely at Statesboro-Bulloch County Airport on Sunday night, Bulloch County Coroner Jake Futch told the Statesboro Herald. 

Aliyu’s date ‘got off the plane and walked toward the back of the plane’, according to Futch. But Aliyu ‘got off the airplane and walked toward the front of the plane, and when he did, the propeller hit him’, Futch said.

He was struck by the propeller two times in the head and died immediately, according to the coroner.

The 2005 Cessna 172S touched down around 10.35pm, said Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) public affairs assistant Steve Kulm. The county dispatched an ambulance to the airport just before 10.45pm.

Aliyu was pronounced dead at the scene and identified on Monday.

The death is under investigation by the FAA and the National Transportation Board (NTSB).

Aliyu and the woman were flown by a pilot and co-pilot, according to Bulloch County Sheriff’s Office Capt Todd Hutchens. Sheriff’s deputies are providing information to the FAA and NTSB.

‘Nobody is really at fault or anything,’ said Hutchens. ‘It was an accident.’

Aliyu was a sophomore at Georgia Southern University, according to school spokeswoman Melanie Simon. Futch said he saw information showing that Aliyu was from Nigeria, but his background was not confirmed by the university.

The university’s dean of students and associate vice president, Dr Aileen Dowell, said the campus community is ‘deeply saddened to hear about the tragic incident’.

‘I have already been in touch with his family and professors,’ Dowell said, ‘And we have mobilized all available resources to provide counseling and any other assistance the university can give.’

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