A man working for Air India has died
after being sucked into a jet engine after a "mishap".
The freak accident happened
as the plane pushed back for take-off at Mumbai airport, the airline said.
It reportedly happened after
the co-pilot of flight Al 619 to the southern city of Hyderabad mistook a signal from ground staff
and started the engine.
Maintenance man Ravi
Subramanian, who was standing close by, was sucked into the engine and died
instantly.
India's national carrier said on Twitter that he had
"died in a mishap during pushback of flight AI 619".
The airline sent its
"heartfelt condolences" to the man's family and its
boss, Ashwani Lohani, said he was "deeply saddened".
A source told the
Hindustan Times: "At the moment, we are absolutely clueless on how
this person was near the aircraft.
"Only an inquiry can
establish whose negligence it was and whether the engine should have been
switched on at that time."
The state-run carrier, which
has not reported an annual profit since 2007, has been troubled recently by a
number of technical glitches and other awkward incidents, including staff
turning up late for flights.
The airline made headlines in
April when it was forced to ground two of its pilots after the pair started to
fight just before take off.
The latest incident comes a
week after a turboprop plane owned by budget carrier SpiceJet skidded as it hit
a group of wild boars as it came in to land at Jabalpur
airport in central India.
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