Man dies in plane loo at landing time

In a case of negligence by an airline, a 52-year-old professor, Pradeep Kumar, was found dead in the washroom of a Indigo airline flight soon after it landed at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA). Kumar had gone to the washroom minutes before the flight 6E-156 (Ahmedabad-Delhi) was scheduled to land. As per the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) rules, every passenger has to be seated at the time of landing.

Delhi police, who was informed of the death, will question the airlines' crew members and submit a report to the DGCA. "The body was handed over to the family after the post-mortem examination on Friday. We will now question the passengers and the airline staff. After that a report regarding the incident will be submitted to the DGCA," RA Sanjeev, DCP (airport), said.

Sources said soon after the plane landed, a crew member noted that one passenger was missing. She then knocked on the washroom door.

"After not getting any response, the door was forcibly opened and Kumar's body was recovered," said an airport source. Sources said crewmembers shouldn't have allowed Kumar to enter the washroom at the time of landing. "Everyone should be seated at the time of landing with seat belt on as the impact of landing can jolt you. Kumar might have suffered a heart attack because of the landing impact," the source said.

Kumar, a resident of Janakpuri, Delhi, was returning from Ahmedabad where he had gone to deliver a lecture at a reputed management institute. Kumar was a dean in a management college in Mumbai and was a visiting faculty at many management institutes. The flight landed at Delhi airport at 9:58pm on Wednesday and the body was sent for postmortem examination.

"The post-mortem report suggests he died around the time of landing only. This proves Kumar was in the washroom at the time of landing and thus the law was violated," the officer added. An Indigo spokesperson confirmed the incident but refused to divulge any further detail.