It was a shocking and tragic day for Air India and its employees yesterday after a service engineer was accidentally sucked into a live engine.
The 40-year-old worker, identified as Ravi Subramanium, was supervising the back push of a A319 aircraft at Mumbai airport when the incident occurred.
Aircraft can only move forward and needs external help to reverse from the parking bar. A tow van is usually used to push back the aircraft and an engineer is positioned in front of the aircraft nose and is always visible by the pilot. Subramanium was manning the back of the plane when a source says they heard the technician ‘sucked into the engine’.
“No one knew what happened.”
A source told The Times of India
According to the media outlet, the technician’s body was ‘badly mutilated’ and is yet to be recovered from the engine.
The airline’s Chairman, Ashwani Lohani, described the incident as a ‘mishap’ and said an investigation was underway.
“We are deeply saddened and regret the tragic incident.”
Ashwani Lohani, Air India Chairman
“At the moment, we are absolutely clueless on how this person was near the aircraft,” a spokesperson added.
“Only an inquiry can establish whose negligence it was and whether the engine should have been switched on at that time.”
