New Delhi: Moments before taking off, an IndiGo pilot collapsed at the boarding gate of Nagpur airport on Thursday. He was rushed to a hospital which declared him brought dead, the airline said in a statement.
“We are saddened at the passing of one of our pilots in Nagpur earlier today. He took unwell at Nagpur airport and was rushed to the hospital where he unfortunately passed away. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and loved ones,” IndiGo said in a statement.
The spokesperson of the hospital, where he was shifted, told news agency PTI that their medical team administered CPR, though with no response.
According to his roster, he had operated on several sectors before coming on duty and had 27 hours of rest before Thursday, the airline said.
“The said pilot yesterday operated two sectors Trivandrum-Pune-Nagpur, which were early morning (approx. 3am to 7am). Thereafter, he had 27 hours of rest and was scheduled for 4 sectors today with departure at 1pm. Departure from Nagpur was to be his first sector,” the IndiGo statement said.
This comes a day after another pilot of Qatar Airways died while flying a Delhi-bound flight from Doha. The flight had to be diverted to Dubai after he fell ill mid-air. The pilot had earlier operated SpiceJet's inaugural flight back in 2003, according to reports. He suffered a cardiac attack on board the flight. According to reports, he was on board the flight as an extra crew member.
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Earlier on Sunday, the pilot of a commercial flight from Miami to Chile, collapsed in the bathroom. An emergency landing was carried out in Panama and the pilot was declared by doctors at the airport.