It's a curious case of an Air India flier which could have turned fatal. Early Friday morning, a man kept on moving for almost 150-200 metres on the conveyor belt and cleared level-1, where he even passed through the X-ray machine, used for baggage scanning. Finally, an employee noticed him and stopped the conveyor belt.

The irony is that Delhi airport, recently awarded as world's number one airport, witnessed one of the most bizarre incidents clearly because of negligence by the national carrier, Air India, and the airport operator.

The trauma didn't end here. When the matter was brought to the notice of the terminal manager, he asked the employee to bring back the passenger through the same belt by moving it in reverse direction for about 200 metres. According to a senior airport official, the decision taken by terminal manager could have resulted in serious mishap.

The man was later taken to the police station. Surprisingly, the DIAL has installed CCTV camera and staff have been deployed to check Baggage Handling System (BHS) but no one noticed that a man was sitting on baggage belt along with his luggage. However, sources said the man was travelling for the first time and he got confused when he was directed by the airport employee to move towards the check-in counter.

Sources said the man, identified as Rajkumar Yadav, was stopped just before entering level-2 of the baggage handling system where the luggages are sorted automatically. The system, sources said, could have endangered his life.

"Around 1am on Friday, Rajkumar Yadav, who was set to travel to Riyadh by Air India flight AI 925, was noticed at level-1, conveyor belt no. 07. An employee responsible for conveyor belts and in-line baggage system noticed him after he managed to cross the X-ray machine. No staff of other check-in counter as well as DIAL noticed him. Later, he was handed over to the police with the help of CISF, guarding the IGI Airport," a senior airport official told Mail Today. He was later accommodated in the next flight to fly to Riyadh.

According to sources, Yadav was a first-time air traveler and he got confused when an airport staff directed him towards check-in counter. "He was travelling for the first time so he asked an official to guide him the way to get boarding pass. Official directed him to go to the check-in counter of Air India but instead of going to the checking counter, he went to baggage conveyor belt where he sat on with his luggage presuming that he has to get scanned along with his baggage.

"There are at least 168 counters at T-3 but surprisingly no one at the checkin counters noticed him. When a staff noticed him, he immediately stopped the belt movement and contacted the terminal manager. He asked them to bring back the passenger through same belt in check-in area which was almost 200 metres far from the spot," sources said.

"It was sheer negligence by Air India staff as well as DIAL as no one else had access to deal with in-line baggage system. It has been learnt that he managed to reach to the conveyor belt through an unmanned/ unattended check-in counter," official added.

According to the police, after questioning him, they didn't find anything illegal so they allowed him to travel. Rajkumar traveled to Riyadh through the next Air India flight.

When Mail Today contacted Air India, even after multiple attempts, the airline didn't respond.

DIAL termed it a "stray" incident. "A stray incident was reported in the Terminal 3 of Delhi airport, where a passenger was seen sitting on the moving conveyor belt inside the BHS system. Immediately, the passenger was caught with the help of CISF. The Delhi Police was roped in to investigate the matter. After talking to the passenger, and once the matter calmed down, it became apparent that the incident resulted because of misunderstandings," said a DIAL spokesperson.

The Delhi airport is equipped with 4 level in-line baggage system. This system can handle over 11,300 pieces of baggage per hour. A baggage X-ray system for full inspection will also be integrated. Bags can be handed in at 168 check-in desks at the departures level of the terminal.

For oversize luggage, there are five desks available. A total of 28 X-ray stations will be integrated into the system so that all baggage can be subjected to cent per cent security inspection. The system includes a combination of conveyor belts, bar code readers and in-line baggage sorters that allows passengers to proceed straight to the check-in counter and receive their boarding pass while the baggage gets checked and assigned automatically. It will also provide an enhanced level of security technology.

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