Service Engineer Fatally Injured At Mumbai Airport

An Air India service engineer was pulled into a live engine on one of the airline's A319 airplanes, fatally injuring the man.

The accident occurred Wednesday, according to a report from The Times of India. The engineer was identified as Ravi Subramanian.

According to the report, the airplane that was to have flown from Mumbai to Hyderabad was being pushed back from the gate for takeoff, and Subramanian was supervising the push-back. An airline source said "no one knew what happened. All of a sudden we heard that a technician has been sucked into an engine."

Authorities said the body had been "badly mutilated."

Airline sources said that the airplane's APU was not working, and so the engine start-up procedure was not normal. One pilot said that "most APU's on Air India's narrow body aircraft don't work." When that is the case, the crew starts one engine before push back, and then the external power is disconnected from the airplane.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation has initiated an inquiry into the incident.

FMI: www.civilaviation.gov.in