A SpiceJet Boeing B737 aircraft operating flight SG-945 from Mumbai to Durgapur encountered severe turbulence during descent which resulted in injuries to a few passengers.
According to the death certificate issued by a hospital in West Bengal, Akbar Ansari was a resident of Jharkhand’s Giridih district.
As per the death certificate viewed by HT, the 48-year-old Ansari had died on 26 September. He was being treated admitted at Mission Hospital in Durgapur. As per his death certificate, he died of ‘sepsis in shock’ caused by ‘polytrauma with spinal injury. As seen by HT, he 'sustained polytrauma while travelling in flight.' He was among the 15 people who were injured on the flight. Of the 15 people, 12 were passengers while three were cabin crew members.
Ansari’s brother Maulana Akhtar told the daily that treatment was borne by the airline. He was also present on the flight along with other family members.
“All three of us were seated with our seat belts on. It was around 20 minutes before landing that the aircraft went into turbulence. Despite wearing seat belts, my brother’s head hit the aircraft cabin’s ceiling twice, damaging his spinal cord and neck," he said.
He was on a ventilator for over a month before he passed away," a DGCA official told HT on anonymity. He further added that, “This is the second passenger death in India, due to severe en route turbulence." One such incident had occurred in 1980 when an Indian Airlines flight had entered into severe turbulence in West Bengal’s Rampurhat and killed two out of 132 people.
Aviation regulator DGCA had suspended the licence of a SpiceJet pilot for six months following the incident. A senior DGCA official had said that the licence of the pilot-in-command of the flight was suspended due to various violations.
Among others, the pilot could have dealt with the bad weather situation in a better manner, the official said. Since it was a serious incident, the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) was probing the matter.
SpiceJet has been facing operational and financial headwinds in recent times, and it is already under enhanced surveillance of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). The regulator had also directed the airline to operate only 50 per cent of its total flights till October 29. Recently, a SpiceJet plane coming from Goa made an emergency landing at Hyderabad airport after smoke was observed in the cabin. In July, a Dubai-Madurai flight of the airlines had got delayed due to a technical snag. The Boeing B737 MAX aircraft's nose wheel malfunctioned.
