Trainee technician dies as SpiceJet plane’s landing gear doors close

A trainee aircraft technician died after becoming pincered between a plane’s landing doors in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata on Wednesday, the airline said.

Rohit Pandey was working on a SpiceJet Bombardier-developed Q400 turboprop plane when the hydraulic landing gear doors closed, the airline said in a statement.

“The hydraulic doors were broken to rescue Mr. Pandey but he was declared dead,” the statement said.

Kaushik Bhattacharjee, director of Kolkata airport, said a team from the aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had visited the site of the accident, which happened just after midnight.

“DGCA has already started an inquiry,” Bhattacharjee told Reuters, adding that Pandey was a 23-year-old trainee technician.

In 2017, SpiceJet, a low-cost carrier, agreed to buy up to 50 Q400 aircraft in a deal, estimated to be worth up to $1.7 billion, from Canada’s Bombardier. The Q400 aircraft programme is now owned by Canadian plane manufacturer Viking Air.