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Many questions remain after a woman was killed while working at the New Orleans International Airport earlier this week.

Jermani Thompson died after her hair was caught in the machinery of a belt loader while unloading baggage for a Frontier Airlines flight.

"She said, 'Mom, I'm on my way to work.' I said, 'OK, I see you when you get home,'" said Angela Dorsey, Thompson's mother said.

She always seemed to have a basketball in her hands. Her mother says she was a basketball guru.

"She loved basketball — that was her thing," Dorsey said.

Word quickly began to spread Tuesday night that the 26-year-old had been killed in an industrial accident.

"The doctor said that her hair got stuck in the conveyer and they say they tried to cut her hair but they couldn't," said Dorsey. "She died on her way to the hospital."

Thompson was unloading baggage from a Frontier Airlines flight at about 10:20 p.m. Minutes later, her mother received the call.

Mike Hough, CEO of GAT Airline Ground Support, said Thompson's hair apparently became entangled in the machinery of the belt loader.

A coworker of Thompson who wanted to remain anonymous spoke exclusively about what he witnessed.

He says he can't get the image out of his head and people can't stop crying about it.

New Orleans sister station WDSU reached out to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to see if any incidents like this have happened before at the airport.

According to OSHA, no incidents have been reported involving the GAT Airline Ground Support at the Louisiana airport in the past 10 years.

GAT Airline Ground Support is the company that provides services to airlines, such as ground and cargo handling.

WDSU also reached out to GAT to find out how often equipment is inspected, and whether or not the equipment at the airport there had been inspected recently.

At the time of this report, WDSU has not received a response.

According to OSHA, an investigation into Thompson's death is underway, but findings from that investigation may not be available for another six months.

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