One week after the tragic Taiwan plane crash that killed 23 people, the national carrier Air India had just escaped from a major mishap. Lack of enough cabin crew members on its flights to keep an eye on passengers would have cost Air India a huge loss.

The incident took place minutes before the scheduled 8.30am (Moscow time) departure of AI's Moscow-Delhi flight, when a passenger, seated on 14A, had returned from one of the washrooms and was on his way to his seat. "I was about to take my seat when I heard a staffer knocking on the window asking to open the door. So I opened the door without realizing that I shouldn't have opened it," said the statement given to the airline by the passenger who had opened the door. A source said: "As the door opened, there was a sudden hissing sound, followed by a loud thud, and that was when the flight attendants noticed the passenger's errant behavior. It was too late to stop him." The escape slide raft fell onto the aerobridge, and an engineering team had to be called to detach it from the aircraft.

Air India did not comment on the incident. Its spokesperson sought time to respond.

- Manohar