The widow of a Delta Air Lines worker who was one of two people killed in a reported tire explosion at the Atlanta airport earlier this week says her husband was less than a year away from retirement.
Scottie Ann Marweg told local TV station WANF in an interview that Mirko Marweg, 58, of Stone Mountain, Ga., was planning on retiring from his job of two decades in June 2025.
The couple was married for 28 years. Mirko was the father of four children.
“I don’t know how I’m feeling. I’m in disbelief,” Scottie Ann told the station. “It’s so weird. We’ve been together so long.”
She also said of her late husband: “He had a big heart, a big smile. He would help anybody. He loved his family. He was a planner. He was smart.”
Mirko and a fellow Delta worker, Luis Aldarondo, 37, of Newman, Ga., died in the incident at a maintenance facility at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Tuesday, Aug. 27.
The Associated Press and local media outlets described what happened as an explosion at the facility.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and local station WSB reported the victims’ identities, citing the medical examiner’s office. Another person was seriously injured, Delta officials previously said.
Andre Coleman, Mirko’s son, told TV station WXIA that he had wanted to view his father’s body because he didn’t believe the news of the death was true. However, a medical examiner’s official told the family it was not possible because their loved one’s body was “unrecognizable.”
“We identified him by tattoos and his Mississippi State lanyard around his neck,” Coleman told WXIA.
Multiple Atlanta Fire Rescue Department units and police park outside a Delta Maintenance facility near Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport on Aug. 27, 2024.
John Spink/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP
Coleman said that he was in a state of shock upon hearing the news of his father’s death. “If I could tell him something right now,” Coleman said, “I would tell him no more suffering. You had your time here with us now it’s time for you to be with God.”
Delta has said the incident happened when wheel components were being taken apart for maintenance at a wheel and brake shop, the AP reported.
The airline said that the components were not affixed to an aircraft at the time of the explosion.
Officials with the airline characterized the incident as an “accident.”
In a statement, Delta wrote: “We have extended our full support to family members and colleagues during this incredibly difficult time. The Delta family is grateful for the quick action of first responders and medical teams on site. We are now working with local authorities and conducting a full investigation to determine what happened.”
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport earlier told PEOPLE that the incident didn’t affect its operations. In an X post, the airport expressed its “condolences,” writing: “Our prayers are with the families affected by the tragic incident at Delta Air Lines’s Technical Operations Maintenance facility this morning.”
In a previous statement to PEOPLE, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said it was aware of the incident and in communication with the airline.
The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), a union that represents more than 100,000 members in the airline industry in North America, posted a news release about the explosion on its website, expressing condolences to the victims’ families.
“As a union dedicated to the well-being and safety of our members and the broader community, we will offer our resources to all those impacted by this tragic event,” the IAM wrote.
“We stand in unity with Delta workers during this difficult time and we call on Delta and the relevant authorities to quickly launch a thorough investigation into how this happened,” the union’s statement concluded.
