A shocking airport accident killed a service engineer of Air India after he was sucked into the engine of a plane at Mumbai airport. The plane was being pushed back for take-off on Wednesday evening.

The victim has been identified as Ravi Subramanium, estimated to be in his 40s. The co-pilot of flight AI 619 bound for Hyderabad apparently misinterpreted the ground staff's signal and turned on the plane's engine.

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The victim, who was standing near, was sucked in, according to an insider from Air India. The incident took place at around 8:30 in the evening, and it allegedly took hours to remove the body out from the engine.

To understand the procedure, an aircraft can only move forward, and it needs external help to reverse from the parking bay. To push back, the plane needs a van to tow, and an engineer positioned at the nose part, within the pilots visibility, helps guide the process.

In this instance, Subramanium was the technician or engineer guiding the pushback. "No one knew what happened. All of a sudden we heard that the technician has been sucked into the engine," an airline insider revealed. "The body has been badly mutilated," an CISF official said.

"The flight was already boarded. It was ready for take-off. While it was pushing back to come on the airstrip, he [Subramanian] was working on the ground. His body got entangled in the engine," Ashwani Lohani, the chairman and managing director of Air India, stated. Over 100 passengers on board were reportedl traumatized about the incident.

Air India announced on Twitter that the technician 'died in a mishap during pushback of flight A1 619.' No further details were given.

"The incident is being investigated. Our heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family," the airline tweeted.

Lohani expressed sympathy about the unfortunate circumstance. "We are deeply saddened and regret the tragic incident," he said.

TagsAir India, Mumbai airport, Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, airplane mishap, Ashwani Lohani, Airplane Accident, airplane technician, airplane pushback, Ravi Subramanium