NEW DELHI: Hardly a month after an airline employee was killed in a mysterious accident at IGI airport, Bihar deputy chief minister Sushil Modi received spinal injuries in a freak accident on Sunday morning while being driven to the aircraft from the terminal building.

Last month, a woman aeronautical engineer, Sansruti Sinha, working with Air Deccan, was run over by a heavy vehicle while she was moving to the hangars at night.

Modi along with a group of four people was to take a JetLite flight to Ahmedabad at around 8.15am on Sunday. They were given an exclusive coach with a staff escort and were on their way to the aircraft when the driver suddenly applied the brakes. Modi, who was standing, fell and hurt himself.

He was taken to the Indian Spinal Injuries Centre for examination and has been advised complete bed rest. “I was to go to Ahmedabad for electioneering. The driver of the coach was talking on his phone and did not see an approaching aircraft. When we were about 50 metres from the aircraft, he suddenly applied the brakes and I fell. I hit the hand railing at the rear of the coach and hurt my back. Doctors have told me it is a spinal cord injury,” Modi told TOI. Since the coach was running within the stipulated speed limit of 15-20kmph, the driver hasn’t been fined.

Said Gary Kingshott, CEO of JetLite: “The deputy CM chose to stand in the coach and fell when the driver was forced to apply the brakes. He refused medical assistance but decided, along with another member of his party, not to travel to Ahmedabad. We have launched an inquiry and the driver has been suspended till the inquiry is completed.”

Kingshott said he did not want to “speculate on why the driver had to apply the brakes suddenly” and would wait for the inquiry report before taking further action.

According to airport officials, use of mobile phones is prohibited during operations. Sources said that since the driver had been on the phone while driving in a sensitive area, he should have been more careful. Due to the distraction of the phone call, he was probably also on the wrong path to the JetLite aircraft, which is why he came in the way of another aircraft.

Source