Brother of Delta worker killed by exploding tire says family trying to wake up ‘from this nightmare’

ATLANTA — The family of one of the men killed when an airplane tire exploded at a Delta maintenance shop at Atlanta’s airport says he is “extremely perplexed” as to how it happened.

Mirko Marweg, 58, of Stone Mountain and Luis Aldarondo, 37, of Newnan, were killed when the tire blew, sending a piece of metal “flying like a missile” Tuesday morning.

Another person suffered a major injury.

Marweg’s brother, Eric Gibson, remembers him as “a great gentleman.”

He said their father was the one who delivered the heartbreaking news to him and now they are in a state of shock.

“We’re all in disbelief that this is actually occurring. We’re waiting for someone to wake us all up from this nightmare,” Gibson said.

He said his brother worked for Delta for over 20 years and was getting ready to retire in June.