Monday, December 25, 2006

Dead man on board Air India aircraft gives airport staff a shock

A pilot at Birmingham International Airport was brought down to earth with a bump - after forgetting there was a dead man on board his plane.
Baggage handlers at Birmingham Airport got more than they bargained for when they unloaded suitcases and boxes from the plane - and found the body of an elderly man.
The man died of a suspected heart attack while on a flight from Delhi to Birmingham.
The Air India Boeing 777 made an emergency landing at Bucharest where the man was pronounced dead and, rather than leave him sitting among the hundreds of passengers, the pilot ordered his body be stashed in the hold before the plane took off again.
However, the Russian pilot forgot about the man and once the passengers had filed off the plane in Birmingham, he and his crew followed, travelling to a nearby hotel.
As passengers waited in the airport's lounge for their luggage, baggage handlers were shocked to see a plastic casket, containing the dead man, who is from Bradford, nestling in the hold together with hundreds of suitcases.
Now the 56-year-old pilot from Moscow has been temporarily grounded after being quizzed by police following the incident on Thursday.
Officers arrived to arrest the pilot on suspicion of causing a public nuisance by forgetting about the body.
A West Midlands Police spokeswoman said the pilot was arrested at around 9.30pm.
"He was arrested and questioned but later released without charge and no further action will be taken," she said.
Kurapati Row, regional manager for Air India, said the dead man was in his 80s.
24/12/06 Leda Reynolds, Birmingham Mail/ic Birmingham.co.uk, UK
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