Indian airline technician crushed by landing gear flaps

NEW DELHI – An Indian airline technician was killed when the flaps covering an aircraft’s main landing gear accidentally closed on him during maintenance work, the airline said Wednesday.

The hydraulic doors “inadvertently” closed on the technician, who was working on a Bombardier Q400 aircraft at Kolkata’s airport on Tuesday night, SpiceJet said.

The doors were broken open in an attempt to rescue the worker, but he died, it said in a statement.

Police and the airline are investigating the incident.

The Press Trust of India news agency said in 2015, a service engineer for state-run Air India was killed when he was sucked into an operating engine of an Airbus aircraft at Mumbai airport.