A man reportedly died after he was sucked into a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machine in an Indian hospital.

Rajesh Maru's family claimed that a member of staff at the BYL Nair Charitable Hospital in Mumbai, told him that the machine was switched off, before he walked into the room containing the machine, carrying a metal oxygen tank.

However, on entry, the 32-year-old was sucked towards it by the MRI's huge magnetic force, which left him no time to loosen his grip on the tank.

His hand was trapped by the cylinder, which burst, triggering a massive oxygen leak, NDTV reported.

Although hospital staff managed to pull his body out of the machine and rush him to an emergency ward, he died within 10 minutes.

A postmortem indicated he had died due to pneumothorax, or a collapsed lung.

“Excessive quantity of oxygen entered his body from the cylinder, which is also harmful. He seemed to have died instantly because of that," a forensic doctor told The Indian Express newspaper.

Mr Maru's family have accused the hospital of negligence and they claim that the staff member told Mr Maru it was fine to carry the oxygen cylinder into the tank.

They allege a member of staff told him it was fine to carry the oxygen cylinder inside the MRI room.

“He went there to visit my ailing mother, but we did not know he would meet such a fate. We all are in shock," Harish Solanki, Mr Maru's brother-in-law,told the ANI news agency.

He added: "It all happened because of the carelessness of hospital's doctors and administration."

Mumbai police have arrested a doctor and a staff member who allegedly told Mr Maru that it was okay to enter the room, and the hospital says it is conducting an investigation.

Devendra Fadnavis, the chief minister of Maharashtra, said the family will receive Rs 5 lakh (€6,300) in compensation.

Independent News Service