In a bizarre incident, a worker of IndiGo Airlines fell asleep in the cargo compartment of an Airbus plane at Mumbai airport and the flight took off for Abu Dhabi without the pilots being aware of the man’s plight, officials of Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) disclosed on Tuesday.

Fortunately, the man was found to be safe when the flight landed at Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

After loading the baggage in the IndiGo aircraft’s cargo hold, one of the loaders of the airline fell asleep behind the baggage on Sunday's flight to the UAE. 

The cargo door was closed and the loader woke up as the aircraft took off from the Mumbai airport, the officials informed.

After the aircraft landed in Abu Dhabi, a medical examination of the loader was conducted by the local authorities and his physical condition was found to be stable and normal, officials said.

After getting the requisite clearances from the authorities in Abu Dhabi, he was flown back to Mumbai as a passenger on the same aircraft, the (DGCA) officials said.

The IndiGo Airlines personnel involved in the incident have been off-rostered and an investigation is being carried out to fix responsibility for the negligence.