Indian man injured in turbulence on SpiceJet flight dies

An Indian man, who sustained serious injuries due to turbulence on a SpiceJet flight earlier this year, died last month, according to a statement issued by the airline.

Akbar Ansari, 48, had been on ventilator support for more than a month before he succumbed to his injuries in September.

Ansari, a resident of the Indian state of Jharkhand, was on the Mumbai-Durgapur SpiceJet flight on May 1 when he was injured. He was among 17 people, 14 passengers and three members of the cabin crew who received injuries during the unfortunate incident.

The flight encountered severe turbulence during its descent at Durgapur airport on May 1. Ansari died of "sepsis shock" caused by "polytrauma with spinal injury," according to the death certificate issued by a hospital in West Bengal.

"Ansari suffered a severe spinal injury and fracture around his neck and was being treated at The Mission Hospital in Durgapur. He was on a ventilator for over a month before he passed away," one of the officials at India's airline regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), told the Hindustan Times.

"This is the second passenger death in India, due to severe en route turbulence," the official added.

According to local media reports, Ansari's family has claimed that he did not receive proper treatment. Meanwhile, the airline insists that they had extended all possible assistance, including taking care of the passenger's medical and hospital expenses.

Akhtar Ansari, the victim's brother, has also claimed that the cabin crew did not provide proper warning about turbulence.

"I was seated in the middle and Akbar (Ansari) on the side seat. All of a sudden, a storm-like situation hit our aircraft and we felt a jerk. There was chaos in the cabin," he told the Indian Express.

"Unfortunately, the seat belt of my brother broke after the very first jerk. We were trying to hold him but the jerks were so severe that we could not hold him. He was badly injured," he added.

In 1980, an Indian Airlines flight encountered severe turbulence in West Bengal's Rampurhat, leading to the deaths of two of the 132 people on board.